COL.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  FLOWERS 
MEMORIAL  COLLECTION 


DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
DURHAM,  N.  C. 


PRESENTED  BY 

W.  W.  FLOWERS 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2015 

https://archive.org/details/nacoocheeorboyli01goul 


©he  Woortvuff  ^totto. 


THE  DEER  IN  THE  AIR.  —  Page  184. 


NACOOCHEE; 

OR, 

BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


BY 

REV.  F.  R.  GOULDING, 

AUTHOR  OF  "YOUNG  MAROON ERS,' '  " MAROONER'S  ISLAND," 
"  FRANK  GORDON,"  ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

CLAXTON,  REMSEN  &  HAFFELFINGER. 
MACON,  GA.:  J.  W.  BURKE  &  CO. 
1S71. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 
CLAXTON,  REMSEN  &  HAFFELFINGER, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


(STEREOTYPED  BY  J.  FAGAN  &  SON 


PRINTED  BY  MOORE  BROS. 


5  ^  * 


Journey  Begun 

ENCE  . 


CHAPTER  I. 

Poor  Bunny!  — The  Hill  of  Sci- 


i  i 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  First  Evening's  Rest  —  Singular  Scene  Between 
a  Hawk  and  Squirrel  15 


CHAPTER  III. 

Thirsty  Road  —  Bucket  Down  the  Well  —  Soft 
Iron,  and  Fire  Hammered  Out  of  it  —  The  Tin- 
Mirror —  Accident  to  a  Young  Horse  —  Plato  and 
Pythagoras  —  Resetting  a  Disjointed  Bone  —  "I 
Have  Been  Here  Before  "  —  Key  to  the  Mystery  .  21 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Athens,  Georgia  —  The  Grammar  -  School  —  Taking 
the  Bull  by  the  Horns  —  Almost  a  Fight,  and 
its  Consequences  —  The  Armor  of  Proof — Banish- 
ment of  the  Rod  from  Schools    .  .  34 

O  O  Q  %j  u 


viii 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PAGE 

The  Epileptic  Fit,  and  the  Two  Fits  that  Fol- 
lowed—  Narrow  Escapes  from  Drowning — Ef- 
forts to  Restore  Life — Good  Swimmers  Often 
Drowned,  and  a  Sailor's  Reason  Why.      .      .  45 


CHAPTER  VI. 

On  an  Errand  —  A  Stone -Bruise  —  Lorenzo's  First 
Impressions  of  Indians  —  Shooting  at  a  Mark  — 
Uchee  Camp,  Cookery,  and  Language — Gladden- 
ing Dinner  —  Effects  of  a  Mirror  and  of  a  Por- 
trait—  Uchee  History  58 


CHAPTER  VII. 

School  -  Boy  Games  —  Wicked  Prank  —  Necessity 
Sometimes  of  Blind  Obedience  — Fencing  Bout  — 
Unlooked-for  Antagonist  —  War- Whoop  —  Chola- 
Fixico  —  Proposed  Ball-Play  —  Indian  Physique  — 
Is  it  a  Failure?  •  .  .70 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Arranging — Getting  Ready — Resting  in  a  Hurry 
—  Indian  Ball -Play  —  Rough  Scenes  —  Riding  a 
Man — Boy -Squirrel       ......  83 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  Rough  Sunday  — Bell  Wanted  — Sacrilege— Sin- 
gular Invitation  —  "  Soap  Too  Dirty  "  —  Solar 
Microscope  —  Hideous  Elephants    .      .      .  .94 


CONTEXTS, 


ix 


CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE 

Saloquah  —  Sawnee' s  Misfortunes  —  Kaneeka's  Ex- 
'  periexce  —  Cherokee   Camp  —  Chescoo  —  Sallicoo 
—  Another  Conference  105 

CHAPTER  XL 

Letters  from  Liverpool  —  Unexpected  Changes  — 
Plan  for  the  Summer  —  Another  Unexpected 
Change — Our  Travelling  Equipage  —  Eirst  Day 
and  Night  from  Home  119 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Chattahoochee  Ridge  —  Armah-Oolah —  Indian 
Legend  —  Shooting  from  Horseback      .       .  .130 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Kaneeka  Shoots  into  the  Bushes  — Is  it  Right  to 
Kill  Game  ?  —  Currahee  and  Chopped  Oak,  Tra- 
dition Concerning  them  —  The  Farmer's  Wife, 
and  Her  Sunday  Shooting      .      .      ,      .  .136 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

View  from  Currahee  —  "  Eruption  ' '  —  Unpleasant 
Companions,  and  What  was  Done  with  them  — 
Tuccoa  Falls  —  The  Shower -Bath       .      .       .  144 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Fighting  Preacher  and  the  Blacksmith  .  .154 

O  R  k  O  Q  q 

&■  U  O 


X 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

PAGE 

Talulah,  Southern  End  —  View  prom  Top  of  the 
Cliffs  —  Descent  —  View    from    Below  —  Adven-  . 

TURE     .         .   I70 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

A  Deer  in  the  Air  —  Almost  a  Stampede — Impro- 
vised Ladders — The  Cataracts  and  Cascades  — 
Peculiar  Features  of  Talulah  —  The  Pulpit  — 
Tradition  of  a  Fearful  Tragedy  .      .      .  .181 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Beautiful  Valley — Interesting  Relic — Wildwoods 
Drummer  —  "Who  Cut  these  Logs?"    .      .      .  193 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Legend  of  Nacoochee  .  . 


204 


NACOOCHEE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

JOURNEY  BEGUN  —  POOR   BUNNY  !  "  THE  HILL  OF 

SCIENCE." 

HE  sound  "  Swt !  Swrt !  "  issued  sharply 
from  the  lips  of  our  carriage-driver, 
Scipio,  in  that  peculiar  half-hiss,  half- 
whistle  addressed  to  horses,  which  is  so  easy  to 
utter,  and  so  difficult  to  spell.  The  horses  leaned 
forward  on  hearing  it,  and  the  wheels  of  the 
carriage  crushed  through  the  deep  sand  before 
the  door  of  our  dear  old  house  in  Darien. 

In  the  carriage  were  my  father  and  my  elder 
sister,  with  the  usual  conveniences  for  travel 
through  a  wild  and  poorly  furnished  country, 
while  on  the  outrider's  seat  behind,  two  trunks, 
a  large  and  a  small,  were  securely  strapped. 


12 


NACOOCHEE ;  OR, 


Almost  rubbing  his  nose  against  these  trunks, 
Old  Gray  stood  in  the  shafts  of  a  covered  carry- 
all, containing  Lorenzo  and  myself,  with  a  fair 
division  of  the  general  baggage.  Of  course,  as 
soon  as  the  carriage  moved,  Old  Gray  started  too. 

My  mother  and  the  children  had  left  only  a 
few  minutes  before,  on  their  way  to  our  summer 
residence  at  The  Bluff,  twelve  miles  away.  She 
was  scarcely  out  of  sight,  her  face  all  wet  with 
tears  at  having  parted  from  us  until  our  winter 
vacation,  six  months  off,  should  bring  us  together 
again. 

Mr.  Jamieson,  who  was  not  only  clerk  in  my 
father's  counting-house,  but  also  chief  steward 
of  our  winter  premises,  stood  in  the  doorway,  keys 
in  hand,  ready  to  lock  up  for  the  summer.  He 
had  just  waved  us  adieu,  looking  as  if  he  would 
greatly  prefer  being  himself  a  traveller  with  us. 

"Whoa,  Gray!  Stop  a  minute,  Johnnie!" 
said  Lorenzo,  clutching  at  the  reins  I  held,  the 
moment  after  we  started.  He  leaped  from  the 
carryall  and  ran  into  the  house,  nodding  to  Mr. 
Jamieson,  and  saying,  with  a  merry  laugh  : 

"  You  did  not  expect  me  back  so  soon." 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


13 


He  soon  reappeared,  bearing  on  his  shoulder 
a  pet  squirrel,  which,  in  the  many  cares  of  the 
occasion,  had  been  forgotten  and  left  in  its  cage, 
engaged  in  the  pleasant  occupation  of  eating 
sweet  acorns.  The  happy  little  thing,  perfectly 
unconscious  of  the  horrible  loneliness  and  starva- 
tion and  death  from  which  it  had  been  rescued,  sat 
upon  his  shoulder,  curling  its  tail  into  the  shape 
of  a  letter  S,  and  still  engaged  with  an  acorn. 

I  have  often  thought  since,  how  like  that 
squirrel  we  sometimes  are  —  exposed  to  helpless 
calamity,  when  we  least  suspect  it :  and  delivered 
too,  it  may  be,  by  the  hand  of  some  guardian 
angel,  of  whose  friendly  act  we  shall  know 
nothing  until  we  shall  have  passed  from  this  life 
of  dangers  to  the  land  of  the  blessed. 

Thus  we  parted  from  the  home  of  my  child- 
hood ;  and,  as  the  event  proved,  parted  forever. 
During  the  following  summer  the  house  "  took 
to  itself  wings"  of  fire  and  "flew  away"  in 
smoke ;  and  from  that  day  forth  our  home  was 
fixed  at  a  far-distant  point. 

Our  journey  was  made  toward  the  last  of  May, 
1820=    We  followed  the  course  of  the  Altamaha 


i4 


NACOOCHEE. 


River,  bound  for  "the  up-country"  of  Georgia. 
Our  destination  was  Athens,  where,  or  in  its 
vicinity,  we  three  young  people,  my  sister,  Lo- 
renzo, and  myself,  were  to  spend  the  next  few 
years  in  the  labors  of  study. 

Of  school-life  I  shall  say  little,  for  the  reason 
that  I  have  little  to  say.  Memory  represents  it 
almost  as  a  blank,  or  at  best  as  a  confused  and 
painful  drudgery,  which  I  take  no  pleasure  in  re- 
collecting. But  let  not  my  young  readers  think 
that  this  language  affords  them  any  authority  for 
saying  the  same  of  themselves.  In  these  days 
of  fast  and  easy  travelling,  when  even  the  "  Hill 
of  Science"  has  been  striped  with  railroads,  from 
base  to  summit,  its  rough  rocks  built  up  into 
beautiful  terraces,  and  its  once  thorny  byways 
adorned  with  flowers,  no  one  possessed  of  mind 
or  industry  will  complain  of  the  hardships  of 
school  —  it  is  a  paradise  now,  compared  with 
what  it  used  to  be. 

There  is  much,  however,  outside  the  school- 
room, and  some  little  in  it,  that  may  prove  useful 
or  interesting ;  and  this  I  propose  to  narrate. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE   FIRST    EVENING'S     REST  —  SINGULAR  SCENE 
BETWEEN  A  HAWK  AND  SQUIRREL. 

E  arrived  at  the  appointed  stopping-place 
of  our  first  day's  journey  long  before 
sunset.  The  horses  had  been  stabled 
and  the  baggage  brought  in,  and  having  nothing 
else  to  do,  we  relieved  our  crampy  sensations  of 
travel  by  a  stroll  toward  some  pleasant-looking 
woods.  In  the  course  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile, 
Scipio,  who  was  walking  just  behind  us  listen- 
ing to  the  conversation,  gave  my  shoulder  a 
grip,  and  pointing  forward  said,  in  a  vigorous 
whisper  : 

"  Mas  Johnnie,  look  yonder  !  Wuh  dem  ting 
duh  do  on  de  fence  ?  " 

I  looked  in  the  direction  indicated,  and  imme- 
diately called  my  father's  attention  to  what  ap- 

15 


1 6 


nacoochee;  or, 


p eared.  On  the  topmost  rail,  about  two  feet 
apart  from  each  other,  and  twenty-five  or  thirty- 
steps  distant  from  us,  sat  a  hawk  and  a  squirrel, 
face  to  face,  intently  engaged  in  exchanging 
looks  with  each  other. 

"Stop,  children,"  said  my  father;  "  let  us 
watch  and  see  what  they  are  about." 

We  paused,  then  drew  gradually  nearer,  with- 
out their  seeming  in  the  least  to  regard  us.  We 
came  so  close  as  to  see  every  motion,  and  even 
to  distinguish  the  expression  (humanly  speaking) 
of  their  countenances ;  still  they  seemed  to  be 
absorbed  in  each  other,  and  unconscious  of  our 
neighborhood.  They  saw  us,  no  doubt,  for  their 
large,  protruding  eyes,  set  in  the  sides  of  the 
head,  enabled  them  to  discern  objects  around 
and  almost  behind,  without  turning. 

The  hawk  had  an  eager,  longing,  yet  disap- 
pointed look,  as  if  his  heart  had  been  set  upon 
something  which  he  had  failed  of  obtaining. 
The  squirrel's  expression  was  that  of  caution 
and  of  confidence.  I  could  not  but  fancy  that 
there  was  also  a  spice  of  fun,  or  of  monkey-like 
mischievousness  in  his  manner,  as  if  conscious 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


of  having  done  something  smart,  and  of  being 
able  to  repeat  it.  But  whatever  fun  may  have 
been  in  his  merry  little  heart,  or  in  his  twinkling 
black  eyes,  there  was  none  in  the  hawk's.  With 
him  all  was  dead  earnest,  perhaps  I  may  say, 
dogged  resolution. 

So  far  as  we  could  see,  neither  moved  a  mus- 
cle, nor  winked  an  eye,  for  five  minutes.  Then 
the  hawk  edged  his  way  lovingly  forward  and 
lifted  a  claw,  as  if  saying  to  the  squirrel : 

"  Dear  little  neighbor,  will  you  not  shake 
hands  with  me  ?  " 

But  as  he  approached,  the  squirrel  drew  back, 
decidedly  declining  a  closer  acquaintance.  The 
hawk  then  retreated  to  his  former  position,  and 
to  my  surprise  the  squirrel  followed,  keeping  up 
the  same  distance  as  before.  To  my  surprise,  I 
say,  for  although  it  was  very  plain  why  it  should 
draw  back  on  the  approach  of  the  hawk,  I  could 
not  conceive  why  it  should  advance  upon  the 
other's  retreat,  and  therefore  we  called  upon 
my  father  for  an  explanation ;  but  he  only 
said : 

"Watch,  and  judge  for  yourselves." 

VOL.  II. — B 


i8 


nacoochee;  or, 


We  remained  looking  on  this  unusual  scene 
for  at  least  twenty  minutes,  and  until  we  had 
advanced  within  fifteen  steps,  when  the  hawk, 
with  a  sudden  flap  of  his  wings,  threw  himself 
on  the  other  side  of  the  fence  and  flew  rapidly 
away;  and  as  soon  as  he  was  gone  the  squirrel 
scampered  from  rail  to  rail,  and  leaped  to  a  tree, 
which  he  climbed  with  a  merry  "  quah-quah  !  " 
as  if  laughing  at  the  fun  he  had  enjoyed  at  the 
hawk's  expense.  While  walking  on,  we  asked 
my  father  to  account  for  these  manoeuvres. 

"  So  far  as  the  hawk  is  concerned,  it  is  very 
plain,"  he  replied.  "  The  hawk  was  hungry, 
and  hoped  to  make  a  supper  of  the  squirrel." 

"  But  why  was  the  squirrel  on  the  fence  ?  " 
we  inquired. 

"  Most  likely  he  was  on  the  fence,  enjoying 
an  evening  stroll,  when  the  hawk  saw  him  and 
endeavored  to  pounce  upon  him,"  he  answered. 

"  But  why  did  he  not  jump  off  and  run 
away  ?  "  we  asked  again. 

"  Because  he  was  too  wise,"  my  father  replied. 
"  His  safest  place  was  as  near  the  hawk  as  he 
could  get,  to  be  out  of  reach  of  his  talons." 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


i9 


We  were  puzzled  at  this  reply,  and  looked  to 
him  for  further  explanation. 

"  If  you  will  reflect  a  moment/'  said  he,  "you 
will  remember  that  the  first  motions  of  a  squirrel, 
in  leaping,  dodging,  or  changing  its  course,  are 
quick,  while  those  of  a  hawk  are  not.  But  in 
a  straight -forward  race  a  hawk's  motion  be- 
comes swift,  while  that  of  a  squirrel  is  slow. 
Little  Bunny  has  been  taught,  either  by  instinct 
or  by  experience,  that  his  greatest  superiority 
over  the  hawk  is  in  his  first  motions.  Therefore, 
he  kept  on  the  fence  and  near  the  hawk,  where 
he  could  at  any  moment  dodge  under  the  rail, 
and  laugh  at  his  pursuer." 

"  He  is  a  smart  little  fellow,"  said  one  of  us, 
enthusiastically. 

"  Yes,  and  a  brave  one,  too,"  said  another. 

"  I  shall  always  admire  squirrels  after  this," 
said  my  sister. 

But  the  adventure  was  not  yet  over.  We 
continued  our  walk  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  or 
more ;  but,  when  we  were  returning  home, 
we  saw  the  squirrel  and  hawk  seated  upon  a 
limb  of  a  tree  thirty  feet  above  ground  and 


20 


NACOOCHEE. 


about  two  feet  apart,  eying  each  other  as 
before.  We  felt  a  lively  interest  in  the  fate 
of  our  brave  little  friend,  and  would  have  re- 
mained until  dark  to  watch  the  issue  of  the 
contest;  but  as  night  was  coming  on,  and  we 
had  all  confidence  in  his  wisdom  and  courage, 
we  left  him  on  the  limb  and  returned  to  our 
lodgings.* 

*  The  above  scene  is  described  just  as  it  was  witnessed. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THIRSTY  ROAD  —  BUCKET  DOWN  THE  WELL  SOFT 

IRON,   AND  FIRE  HAMMERED    OUT  OF  IT  —  THE 

TIN  MIRROR  ACCIDENT  TO  A  YOUNG  HORSE  

PLATO  AND  PYTHAGORAS  RESETTING  A  DIS- 
JOINTED BONE  "  I  HAVE  BEEN  HERE  BEFORE  " 

 KEY  TO  THE  MYSTERY. 

NE  day,  during  this  journey,  when  the 
weather  was  warmer  than  usual,  we  had 
travelled  many  miles  without  meeting 
with  water  fit  to  drink.  We  were  beginning  to 
suffer  from  thirst,  when  we  were  informed  of  a 
well  of  delicious  water  near  a  blacksmith-shop 
at  a  cross-road  a  few  miles  ahead.  We  went  on 
in  fine  spirits,  regaling  our  fancies  and  cheering 
each  other  with  the  anticipation  of  one  of  the 
greatest  luxuries  in  this  life  — -  cool  water.  But 
life  is  very  uncertain,  even  in  its  most  reason- 
able expectations.    We  found  the  cross-road, 

21 


22 


nacoochee;  or, 


the  blacksmith-shop,  and  the  well,  and  also  had 
the  evidence  of  water  having  been  drawn,  not 
many  minutes  before  our  arrival,  but  there  was 
no  water  for  us  — the  bucket  had  broken  loose 
from  its  bail,  and  was  lying  at  the  bottom  of  the 
well,  forty  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

The  workmen  of  the  smithy  were  absent, 
attending  a  funeral,  and  there  was  nobody  pres- 
ent except  the  blacksmith's  son,  a  boy  about 
twelve  years  old,  and  a  neighbor,  who,  having 
come  on  a  pressing  errand  to  the  shop,  was 
awaiting  the  return  of  the  workmen.  The  man 
and  boy  had  already  dragged  for  the  bucket  with 
a  three-branched  hook,  in  use  for  such  purposes, 
but  the  bucket  having  no  handle,  or  other  place 
on  which  the  hook  might  take  hold,  they  had 
failed  to  bring  it  up.  When  we  arrived,  the  man 
was  adjusting  the  well-rope  around  the  boy's 
waist,  preparatory  to  letting  him  down.  He 
seemed  rejoiced  at  our  coming,  and  stopped  pro- 
ceedings long  enough  to  describe  what  had  been 
done,  and  to  say,  in  his  country  dialect : 

"  Jes'  as  you  come  up,  the  idee  crossed  my 
mind  that  I  hadn't  oughter  let  down  this  ere 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


23 


boy  untel  I  had  tried  the  well  by  lettin'  down  a 
lighted  splinter.  I  have  heern  well-cleaners  say 
thur's  a  foul  ar  sometimes  at  the  bottom  of 
wells  as  kills  folks.    What  you  think?" 

He  received  for  answer  that  it  was  certainly 
safer  to  test  the  air  of  the  well,  as  proposed,  for 
that  deadly  vapor  did  sometimes  collect,  though 
seldom  in  wells  constantly  used. 

"  But  whar  '11  I  git  any  fire  to  light  my 
splinter?"  the  man  asked,  looking  at  the  boy; 
"thar  ain't  a  spark  in  the  shop." 

u  Daddy  all'ays  lights  his  coal,  of  a  mornin', 
by  hammerm  his  fire  outen  a  piece  of  soft  iurn," 
the  boy  replied.    "I  kin  do  it  too.    Shill  I?" 

My  father  looked  at  us  children  with  a  smile, 
and  said : 

"  I  suspect  you  would  like  to  see  this  queer 
way  of  getting  fire  —  hammering  it  out  of  iron, 
Jump  out  of  the  carriage  then,  and  run  after 
them." 

We  dashed  ahead,  and  were  soon  in  company. 
"  I  want  to  see  that  'soft  iron,'  "  said  I. 
"  Yes,"  answered  Lorenzo ;  "  I  thought  all 
iron  was  hard." 


24 


nacoochee;  or, 


"All" iron  is  hard,"  the  boy  said,  on  hearing 
us;  "only  some  kinds  is  harder 'n  others.  Pot- 
metal,  now,  is  so  hard  that  ef  you  hit  it  with  a 
hammer,  it  '11  break  into  flinders ;  and  steel  is  so 
hard  that  your  hammer  kaint  dent  it.  But  a 
nail -rod  is  soft,  almost  like  lead.  You  may 
hammer  it  any  way  you  like." 

All  was  soon  explained  to  us  by  practical 
illustration.  The  boy  took  a  small  iron  rod, 
such  as  is  used  for  making  horse-shoe  nails,  laid 
it  on  the  anvil,  struck  a  few  rapid  blows,  and 
removed  it  red-hot  to  some  coals,  which  ignited 
at  its  touch,  and  were  afterward  blown  into  an 
intense  heat  by  the  bellows.  As  the  wind  was 
blowing  hard,  a  large  live  coal  with  some  splint- 
ers of  rich  pine  were  carried  to  the  well  to  be 
lighted  there. 

The  little  torch,  on  being  lowered  into  the 
well,  burned  brightly  until  within  four  or  five 
feet  of  the  water,  when  it  was  suddenly  ex- 
tinguished. 

"  Thar  now  ! "  exclaimed  the  man  ;  "  I 'm  glad 
I  did  n't  let  down  this  ere  boy,  ur  I 'd  a  had  him 
to  draw  out,  as  well  as  the  bucket.    And  now, 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


25 


what 's  to  be  done  with  all  that  bad  ar  down  the 
well?" 

My  father  told  him  how  to  remove  it  by  lower- 
ing a  thickly-leaved  bush,  or  an  open  umbrella, 
or  by  any  other  means  that  would  mix  the  inner 
and  outer  airs.  "  But,"  added  he,  "  why  disturb 
it  ?  It  will  hurt  nobody  that  does  not  breathe 
it.  As  for  the  bucket,  that  can  be  recovered 
without  any  one's  going  down,  by  using  these 
forge -tongs.  We  will  fasten  a  cord  to  each 
handle,  so  that  they  can  be  opened  or  closed 
at  will.  Please  look  and  see  if  the  bucket  lies 
fair,  with  its  mouth  to  us." 

The  man  shaded  his  eyes,  peered  down  the 
dark  abyss,  and  answered: 

"  I  kin  see  whar  it  lies,  but  not  how  it 
lies." 

"Then  we  must  let  down  another  torch  to 
show  it,"  said  my  father,  who  at  the  same  time 
drew  from  his  pocket  his  flint  and  steel  —  this 
was  before  the  world  knew  anything  of  fric- 
tion matches  —  struck  a  spark  into  his  tin- 
der-horn, and  applied  a  match  tipped  with 
sulphur. 


26 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  You  don't  allow  your  match  can  live  in 
all  this  ere  wind,  do  you  ?  "  asked  the  man  in 
some  surprise. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  a  match  can  be 
made  to  defy  the  wind;"  and  with  that  he 
wrapped  a  fragment  of  newspaper  round  his 
finger  into  a  bell  shape,  and  held  it  with  its 
mouth  turned  from  the  wind.  The  match, 
grasped  in  the  shank  of  the  bell  before  light- 
ing, was  well  enough  protected  to  defy  almost 
a  hurricane.    Match  and  bell  burned  together. 

The  red  light  of  the  torch,  however,  not  pos- 
sessing quite  illuminating  power  enough  for  the 
depth  of  water,  its  place  was  supplied  by  a  piece 
of  bright  tin,  which,  for  lack  of  a  better  mirror,- 
was  used  to  reflect  a  strong  body  of  sunlight 
down  the  well.  The  tongs  —  made  like  a  pair 
of  pliers  or  nippers,  with  long  handles  and  short 
jaws  —  was  let  down  under  the  guidance  of  this 
light,  the  bucket  was  seized  by  its  lip  and  care- 
fully drawn  up,  and  the  cool  water  that  came 
in  it  was  not  the  less  delicious  in  consequence 
of  the  long  delay. 

Somewhere  along  that  same  road  is  another 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


27 


locality  which,  in  my  mind,  is  very  curiously 
associated. 

.  Our  road  led  us  to  the  brow  of  a  wooded  hill, 
from  which  we  looked  over  a  wide  reach  of 
fields  and  farms  to  a  pleasant  line  of  woods 
which  bounded  the  view  three  or  four  miles 
away.  Just  before  coming  to  this  brow,  our 
attention  was  arrested  by  several  men  on  the 
roadside,  who  were  engaged  in  trying  to  hoist 
to  a  strong  beam  a  young  horse  that  had  dis- 
located its  back.  It  was  a  beautiful  creature, 
with  small  head,  intelligent  projecting  eyes, 
glossy  skin,  and  legs  as  trim  as  a  deer's.  Its 
piteous  groans,  or  rather  pants,  of  pain,  excited 
our  compassion,  and  my  father  halted  the  car- 
riage to  see  if  he  could  be  of  any  service.  A 
look,  however,  convinced  him  that  the  case  was 
hopeless.  The  back  had  been  broken  at  the 
loins,  and  the  parts  had  slipped  so  far  from  the 
right  position  as  to  overlap  each  other.  The 
men  at  work,  ignorant  of  the  rules  of  bone- 
setting,  were  trying  to  force  the  joint  to  its 
place  by  hoisting  the  poor  creature  by  its  tail. 
Every  tug  at  the  rope  brought  from  the  sufferer 


28 


nacoochee;  or, 


such  indications  of  pain  that  my  father  beck- 
oned the  principal  personage  of  the  company 
to  him,  and  said  : 

"  Friend,  I  am  very  sorry  to  see  what  has 
happened  to  that  beautiful  animal.  It  would 
be  worth  saving,  if  possible,  but  I  perceive  that 
you  do  not  understand  the  art  of  bone-setting." 

"  Do  you  ?  "  the  man  eagerly  inquired. 

"  Enough  to  know  that  the  plan  you  are  pur- 
suing will  only  make  matters  worse,"  was  the 
reply.  "  When  a  joint  has  slipped  from  its 
place,  the  only  way  to  get  it  back  is  to  pull  the 
bones  apart  until  their  heads  can  pass  one  another, 
and  slip  back  to  their  proper  position.  See  here," 
and  with  that  he  took  hold  of  his  own  middle 
finger  and  pulled  it,  so  that  its  lower  bone 
separated  visibly  from  the  knuckle-joint.  "This 
is  what  I  mean.  Before  you  can  set  a  dislocated 
joint,  you  must  pull  the  bones  apart  with  such 
force  that  they  can  slip  back  into  place.  So 
much  about  the  setting  of  a  joint.  But  now, 
for  the  sake  of  your  poor  suffering  brute,  I 
would  ask  a  question.  Is  it  possible  for  you, 
with  all  the  force  at  your  command,  to  draw 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


29 


those  bones  far  enough  apart  to  bring  them 
into  place?  And  supposing  you  can,  Is  it 
possible  for  a  horse  with  a  broken  back  ever  to 
be  of  use  ?  Would  it  not  be  an  act  of  mercy 
to  end  his  sufferings  at  once  by  a  bullet,  or  by 
a  blow  on  the  head  ?  " 

The  man  listened  with  absorbed  attention, 
and  with  evident  pleasure,  to  all  that  had  been 
said  about  setting  the  joint,  but  the  moment  the 
discouraging  inquiries  at  the  close  began  to  be 
made,  his  countenance  changed,  and  with  a 
surly,  stubborn  look,  he  asked  : 

"  Stranger,  are  you  a  horse-doctor  ?  " 

"  Not  regularly." 

"  Are  you  a  doctor  of  any  sort  ?  " 

"  Not  by  profession.    I  am  a  merchant." 

"  Well,  do  you  know  what  the  eleventh  com- 
mandment  is  ?  " 

My  father,  who  now  suspected  from  the  man's 
excited  manner  that  he  was  about  to  utter 
something  insolent,  anticipated  him  by  reply- 
ing, in  a  kind  tone  : 

"Eleventh  commandment,  do  you  say?  That 
means,  a  commandment  given  after  the  Ten. 


30  nacoochee;  or, 

Yes,  friend,  I  do.  for  I  remember  that  our 
blessed  Master,  who  had  a  merciful  care  for  all 
his  creatures,  said  once,  '  A  new  commandment 
I  give  unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  another'  " 

This  answer  took  the  man  all  aback.  He 
stood  for  a  moment  confused,  then  said,  with 
a  laugh  : 

"  Well,  stranger,  you  have  got  the  better  of 
me  this  time.  I  was  going  to  say  that  the 
eleventh  commandment  is,  '  Let  every  man 
attend  to  his  own  business.'  But  your  com- 
mandment is  better  than  mine.  It's  good  as 
a  sarment.    I  '11  not  forget  it." 

At  this  moment  Scipio  gave  a  word  to  the 
horses,  and  we  drove  away.  The  man  stood 
where  we  left  him,  looking  at  us  until  we  were 
out  of  sight.  What  became  of  him  or  his  horse 
I  never  learned,  for  I  did  not  revisit  that  spot 
in  many  years.  In  the  mean  time,  another  in- 
cident occurred  in  connection  with  it. 

During  my  early  manhood,  I  was  called  by 
business  to  travel  a  certain  road  once  a  month 
during  a  whole  year.  It  traversed  a  region  of 
country  where,  until  that  time,  I  had  never  been 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


31 


before.  On  passing  it  for  the  first  time  I  was 
deeply  impressed,  and,  in  fact,  somewhat  trou- 
bled by  an  unaccountable  association.  There 
was  a  certain  spot,  on  the  brow  of  a  hill,  over- 
looking a  wide  stretch  of  field  and  farm,  and 
bounded  by  a  distant  horizon  of  wood,  where 
I  had  no  sooner  looked  around  me  than  my 
feelings  underwent  a  rapid  and  almost  violent 
change.  A  feeling  of  pity  took  possession  of 
me.  The  words,  "  Poor  thing  !  "  almost  echoed 
in  my  ears.  I  mechanically  took  hold  of  my 
finger,  drew  it  from  the  knuckle,  thought  of  the 
mode  of  resetting  disjointed  and  broken  bones, 
and  said  to  myself :  • 

"What  a  pity  that  an  art  so  simple  is  not 
known  to  everybody  !  " 

The  view  from  that  hill,  with  its  rush  of 
thought  and  .feeling,  almost  frightened  me. 
The  sensations  awakened  carried  me  back,  far 
back,  into  the  dim  past.  I  said  to  myself :  "  I 
have  been  here  before  —  at  this  very  spot  — 
with  these  same  thoughts  and  feelings.  But 
how  is  this  possible?  When  could  it  have  been? 
Surely  not  in  this  life !  "    I  was  perplexed, 


32 


nacoochee;  or, 


A  month  afterward,  I  came  unexpectedly 
upon  the  same  ground,  and  was  saluted  with 
the  same  resistless  chain  of  associations.  This 
was  repeated  as  often  as  I  passed  the  place,  and 
I  began  finally  to  be  worried  at  being  thus 
almost  compelled  into  a  belief  of  the  old  pagan 
doctrine  of  metempsychosis,  or  transmigration 
of  the  soul  from  one  body  to  another. 

About  a  year  afterward,  however,  I  was  called 
to  pass  over  a  portion  of  the  road  which  we 
had  travelled  in  the  year  1820.  I  recognized 
point  after  point,  and  was  surprised  to  see  with 
what  vividness  the  old-time  thoughts  at  the 
place  were  recalled.  On  reaching  a  certain  hill- 
top, the  whole  scene  of  the  anguished  horse, 
the  ignorant  operators,  and  the  offered  help, 
rushed  through  my  mind.  Two  minutes  travel 
beyond  this  spot,  was  the  landscape  which  had 
become  so  painfully  familiar  to  me  in  a  distant 
part  of  the  country. 

Strange  to  say,  the  two  scenes  were  not 
much  alike,  except  in  the  impression  they  made 
upon  the  mind.  By  closely  observing  the  facts 
of  the  case,  however,  I  learned  several  things. 


BOY- LIFE  FROM  HOME, 


33 


The  first  is,  that  we  remember  sensations  as  well 
as  facts ;  and  another  is,  that,  as  a  rule,  there  is 
a  sensation  peculiar  to  our  recollection  of  each 
place;  so  that  a  recollection  of  the  place  will 
awaken  the  sensation,  or  a  recurrence  of  the 
sensation  will  awaken  a  recollection  of  the 
place. 

Now,  it  was  the  sensation  produced  by  the 
road-side  scene  in  1820,  rather  than  the  place, 
that  was  recollected.  The  new  place  awakened 
the  old  sensation,  and  made  me  believe  that  I 
had  been  at  a  place  where  I  never  had  been 
before.  This  explanation  has  proved  so  satis- 
factory to  me  that  I  record  it  for  the  benefit  of 
such  readers  as  may  have  been  troubled  in  like 
manner. 


vol.  11. — c 


CHAPTER  IV. 


ATHENS,    GEORGIA          THE    GRAMMAR-SCHOOL  — 

TAKING  THE  BULL  BY  THE  HORNS  —  ALMOST  A 

FIGHT,  AND    ITS    CONSEQUENCES  THE  ARMOR 

OF  PROOF  —  BANISHMENT  OF  THE  ROD  FROM 
SCHOOLS. 

[HEN,  in  the  month  of  June,  1820,  we 
arrived  at  Athens,  Georgia,  now  known 
as  a  city,  we  found  it  a  little  straggling 
village  of  about  thirty-five  houses  and  three  or 
four  hundred  inhabitants. 

Apart  from  the  College  and  its  associations, 
the  chief  attractions  of  the  place  at  that  time 
were  a  high  and  healthy  location,  some  two 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  adjoining 
river,  and  an  abundance  of  excellent  water. 

The  Grammar  -  School,  around  and  about 
which  converge  most  of  my  associations  of 
the  time,  was   a   preparatory  department  in 

34 


NACOOCHEE. 


35 


which  pupils  intending  a  collegiate  course  re- 
ceived all  necessary  instruction  free  of  tuition 
charges.  This  was  a  wise  provision  of  the  col- 
lege fathers,  and  effectually,  though  slowly,  did 
it  accomplish  the  object  intended,  of  building 
up  the  infant  college.  If  I  recollect  aright, 
there  were  at  that  time  nearly  one  hundred 
pupils  in  this  department,  who  were  distributed 
through  two  stories  of  the  Academy,  and  in- 
structed by  two  tutors,  aided  by  one  or  two 
assistants. 

I  can  never  forget  our  first  day's  experience 
at  this  school,  and,  were  our  excellent  old 
teacher  alive,  I  think  he  too  would  join  us  in 
a  laugh  at  the  recollection.  He  was  a  man  of 
coarse,  but  benevolent  features,  and  of  stalwart 
frame,  a  grand  advantage  at  that  day,  when  the 
youths  of  our  new  country  were  like  so  many 
wild  colts  in  need  of  breaking,  and  while  our 
teachers,  patterning  after  the  venerated  fathers 
across  the  ocean,  recognized  no  higher  incen- 
tive to  study  and  good  conduct  than  the  rod. 
Everything  about  him  was  massive,  and  his 
shaggy  eyebrows  and  his  profusion  of  waving 


36 


nacoochee;  or, 


hair,  allowed  to  project  in  unrestrained  free- 
dom on  all  sides,  gave  to  his  naturally  large 
head  an  appearance  almost  gigantic.  His 
big  hand  grasped  a  hickory  switch,  straight, 
tough,  and  supple,  and  tapering  with  painful 
keenness  to  its  point.  This  switch  he  wielded 
with  great  authority,  and  such  was  his  skill  in 
projecting  it,  javelin-like,  that  many  a  whisperer 
in  a  distant  part  of  the  room  has  unexpectedly 
felt  it  strike  him,  and  heard  the  accompanying 
summons,  "  Bring  it  to  me !  "  which  was  usually 
the  precursor  of  his  feeling  the  switch  on  his 
legs.  Trained  by  a  distinguished  educator  of 
youth  in  a  neighboring  State,  he  believed  two 
things  indispensable  to  scholarship — Latin  and 
the  hickory. 

When  Lorenzo  and  I  entered  the  school- 
room, we  were  assigned  seats  near  this  august 
presence,  with  the  words,  "  I  will  attend  to  you 
directly." 

In  due  time  we  were  called  forward  and  asked 
the  question : 

"  Have  you  ever  studied  Latin  ?  " 
"  No,  sir." 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME.  37 

He  then  handed  each  of  us  a  Grammar,  the 
pages  of  which,  interspersed  with  notes  running 
all  the  way  across,  were  conspicuously  occupied 
with  double  columns  of  questions  and  answers, 
being  in  Latin  on  one  side  of  the  page,  and  in 
English  on  the  other.  Running  his  hand  broad- 
side over  these  columns,  to  distinguish  them 
from  the  notes,  he  said  :  "  Get  as  much  of  this 
as  you  can,  and  be  ready  to  recite  in  an  hour !  " 

We  took  the  books  and  set  to  work  without  a 
word,  except  a  stifled  "  Whew  !  "  from  myself, 
after  I  had  examined  the  lesson,  and  accom- 
panied by  the  remark  : 

"  It  is  awful  tough  !  " 

Lorenzo,  to  whose  ear  alone  this  was  ad- 
dressed, held  his  book  to  my  eye  with  a  sign 
of  inquiry  as  to  what  was  the  lesson  assigned, 
and  in  answer  I  pointed  to  the  column  in  Latin. 

"  Boys,  are  you  ready  with  that  lesson  ? " 
Mr.  Dobson  inquired  at  the  end  of  the  hour, 

"  With  part  of  it,  sir,"  we  answered. 

"How  much?" 

"  Three  or  four  questions  and  answers." 

Mr.  Dobson  looked  surprised.    He  could  see 


33 


nacoochee;  or, 


that  we  had  been  diligent,  and  he  evidently- 
expected  from  us  a  long  and  well  -  prepared 
lesson. 

"  Three  or  four?  That 's  very  little  !  "  Then 
assuming  a  kind  tone,  he  added :  "  Well,  try  it 
for  another  half  hour." 

We  set  to  work  once  more,  and  struggled 
desperately  to  master  the  outlandish,  and,  to 
us,  unmeaning  sentences  which  we  supposed  to 
constitute  the  lesson.  At  the  end  of  the  half 
hour,  Mr.  Dobson  did  not  inquire  whether  we 
were  ready,  but  called  us  forward  and  asked  the 
question  at  the  head  of  the  column,  in  English : 

"  How  many  letters  are  there  among  the 
Latins  ?  " 

"  Oh,  we  did  not  study  that,  sir ! "  we  an- 
swered. 

"  Then  what !  "  he  exclaimed. 

"  The  Latin,  sir.  We  thought  you  set  us  to 
study  Latin  :  Quot  sunt  liter ce  apud  Latinos  ?  " 

Mr.  Dobson's  gray  eyes  fairly  twinkled,  and 
his  big  features  relaxed  into  a  universal  smile. 

"  That  will  do,"  said  he,  his  voice  trembling 
with  merriment.    "  You  have  '  taken  the  bull 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


39 


by  the  horns/  when  I  only  intended  you  to 
take  the  calf.  For  your  next  lesson  get  these 
questions  and  answers  in  English,  and  let  me 
see  how  much  you  can  bring." 

From  that  day  forth,  Mr.  Dobson  was  our 
friend,  and  he  showed  it  on  many  occasions 
during  our  course. 

He  showed  it,  I  say,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  his  tapering  switch  and  my  legs  became 
acquainted  on  one  occasion  rather  too  inti- 
mately for  comfort.    It  happened  in  this  way  : 

One  morning,  between  breakfast  and  school- 
time,  I  was  sitting  on  a  low  stool  in  the  front 
piazza  of  our  boarding-house,  with  a  big  Dic- 
tionary in  my  lap,  studying  a  Latin  lesson. 
George  Harford,  a  pleasant  boy,  about  my  own 
age,  was  also  in  the  piazza,  walking  to  and  fro, 
studying  his  Latin  grammar.  In  one  of  his 
passings  he  stumbled  against  my  outstretched 
foot,  which  perhaps  was  occupying  more  than 
its  rightful  share  of  the  piazza. 

"  Quit  that,  George !  "  I  said  impatiently,  and 
rather  imperatively. 

George  was  not  accustomed  to  being  ad- 


4o 


nacoochee;  or, 


dressed  in  that  tone,  and  being  rather  in  a 
teasing  mood,  while  I  was  in  an  irritable  one, 
he  struck  my  foot  a  second  time. 

"  George  !  "  said  I,  in  wrath,  "  if  you  do  that 
again,  I  '11  —  " 

"  You  '11  do  what?  "  he  asked. 

"  Try  it,  and  see,"  I  replied. 

George  was  not  a  quarrelsome  boy,  but  he 
did  not  lack  spirit,  and  being  thus  dared  in  a 
threatening  tone  to  repeat  his  offence,  he  did 
it,  barely  touching  my  foot,  however,  as  much 
as  to  say : 

"  Now  let  us  see  what  you  '11  do!  " 

This  was  too  much  for  my  patience.  I  sprang 
to  my  feet,  and  coming  up  to  him  as  he  reached 
the  end  of  the  piazza,  struck  him  a  blow  on  the 
head  with  my  Dictionary  that  made  him  reel 
over  the  banister. 

"  Now,  sir,  let  me  alone,"  I  said,  and  just  as 
we  stood  facing  each  other,  ready  for  fight,  the 
bell  rang  and  parted  us.  I  had  not  noticed  that 
while  I  reached  forward  to  strike  him,  he  had 
pinched  a  piece  out  of  my  cheek;  nor  did  I 
know  it  until,  entering  the  school -room,  not 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


41 


many  steps  distant,  I  had  come  under  the  eye 
of  our  good-natured  teacher. 

"Ah,  Johnnie!"  said  he,  "how  comes  that 
blood  on  your  cheek  ?  " 

I  put  my  hand  to  the  place,  and  answered  : 

"  Only  a  little  scuffle  before  school,  sir  ;  I  did 
not  know  that  George  had  scratched  me." 

"  Scratched,  eh  ?  pretty  deep  scratch  that !  " 
he  said;  then  turning  to  the  other,  who  had  not 
heard  my  attempt  at  evasion,  he  said  :  "  George, 
how  came  you  to  pinch  that  piece  out  of  John's 
cheek?" 

"  Because  he  was  trying  to  knock  me  down 
with  his  big  Dictionary,"  George  replied,  wish- 
ing to  defend  himself  against  what  he  naturally 
supposed  had  been  my  charges.  And  thus  the 
whole  leaked  out. 

"  Take  your  seats,  now,"  said  Mr.  Dobson ; 
"I  will  attend  to  you  both  at  the  close  of 
school." 

We  went  to  our  seats  rather  disconsolate, 
for  we  knew  that  the  close  of  school  was  the 
favored  hour  for  "attending"  to  all  little  extras 
calling  for  the  use  of  the  rod,  and  we  also  knew 


42 


NACOOCHEE;  OR, 


that  one  of  the  few  rules  of  the  school  was 
that  "  if  two  boys  got  to  fighting,  two  boys 
would  have  to  be  whipped." 

In  those  days,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  to  be 
flogged  at  school  was  no  disgrace ;  it  was 
almost  a  matter  of  course ;  those  who  escaped 
were  about  as  rare  as  white  crows.  Our  chief 
anxiety  was  to  escape,  as  far  as  possible,  (as  in 
tooth -pulling,)  the  pain  of  the  operation,  and 
then  afterward  to  avoid  the  displeasure  of  the 
teacher,  for  fear  of  needless  repetition.  I  knew 
that  the  teacher  was  my  friend,  and  I  was  con- 
fident he  did  not  blame  me  more  than  I  de- 
served ;  but  I  also  knew  that  he  had  a  very 
heavy  hand,  and  that  his  hickory  often  left  on 
the  boys'  legs  for  days  the  blue  lines  of  justice. 
So  when  the  sound  of  the  college  bell  an- 
nounced the  approach  of  twelve  o'clock,  the 
hour  of  dismission,  I  borrowed  several  hand- 
kerchiefs from  my  neighbors  in  school,  and 
obtained  from  the  teacher  permission  for  a 
short  absence  from  the  school-room.  Hurrying 
into  the  neighboring  grove,  I  cut  four  sticks  of 
suitable  size,  and,  by  means  of  the  handker- 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


43 


chiefs,  tied  them  to  my  legs  in  the  places  most 
liable  to  the  switch  ;  and  under  the  clothing  on 
my  back  I  slipped  a  nicely  folded  newspaper, 
over  which  I  closely  buttoned  my  vest.  Pro- 
vided thus,  I  returned  to  the  school-room  with 
a  feeling  of  defiance,  and  with  a  sort  of  half 
curiosity  to  test  whether  my  armor  of  defence 
would  be  found  armor  of  proof. 

George  and  I  went  forward  on  special  invita- 
tion, and  took  our  places  before  the  school. 
The  rod  came  down  hard  and  heavy,  according 
to  requirement  of  law.  Poor  George  winced 
terribly  under  the  operation,  and  tears  flowed 
from  his  eyes  ;  but  during  my  own  share  of  the 
exhibition  I  could  scarcely  avoid  laughing,  to 
perceive  how  perfect  was  the  protection  afforded 
by  those  sticks.  The  device  was  used  then  for 
the  first  and  only  time  in  my  life ;  and,  to  give 
it  no  more  credit  than  is  due,  I  am  bound  to 
say  that,  after  school,  I  overheard  one  of  the 
boys  say  to  another  : 

"  Mr.  Dobson  was  partial.  He  did  not  whip 
George  and  Johnnie  in  the  same  way.  He 
brought  the  hickory  square  and  strong  on 
George's  legs,  as  though  he  meant  to  hurt,  but 


44 


NACOOCHEE. 


on  John's  it  came  slanting,  so  as  to  glance  off 
with  a  noise." 

Whether  this  statement  was  according  to  the 
facts  of  the  case,  or  was  only  the  grumble  of  a 
fault-finder,  I  cannot  say,  but  I  do  know  that 
while  George  bore  his  marks  for  several  days, 
I  had  none  to  bear. 

There  is  one  remark  I  wish  to  make  in  con- 
nection with  this  incident.  I  describe  it  just  as 
it  occurred,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  a  true 
picture  of  the  times ;  but  even  with  this  mo- 
tive I  would  not  mention  it,  if  the  system  of 
flogging  in  school  was  still  regarded  as  neces- 
sary to  a  boy's  education.  It  has  been  long 
since  disused  with  girls.  It  is  rapidly  going  out 
of  use  in  the  management  of  the  rougher  sex, 
being  substituted  by  better  influences,  and  by 
punishments  quite  as  efficacious,  and  far  less 
degrading.  Modern  civilization  demands  its 
disuse  altogether  as  far  as  possible,  and  though 
there  may  be  cases  where  no  other  punishment 
will  suffice  —  may  we  not  hope  that  ere  long 
the  operation  of  flogging  in  school  will  be,  in 
proportion,  as  rare  and  disgraceful  as  that  of 
hanging  is  in  the  State  ? 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  EPILEPTIC  FIT,  AND  THE  TWO  FITS  THAT 
FOLLOWED  —  NARROW  ESCAPES  FROM  DROWN- 
ING          EFFORTS     TO     RESTORE     LIFE    GOOD 

SWIMMERS  OFTEN  DROWNED,  AND  A  SAILOR'S 
REASON  WHY. 

H,  how  scene  after  scene  of  those  Gram- 
mar-School  days  rushes  into  mind  and 
demands  a  record !  I  must  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  most  of  them,  and  hurry  on  to  the  more 
important  and  more  exciting  part  of  my  story. 
Still,  there  are  a  few  which  it  would  be  unjust  to 
neglect  altogether,  some  for  their  instruction,  and 
some  for  their  amusement. 

An  incident  occurred  about  that  time  which 
shows  what  absurd  mistakes  can  be  made  by 
people  when  they  are  badly  scared. 

Lorenzo  and  I  occupied  a  bed  together  in  the 
upper  half-story  of  the  house  where  we  boarded, 

45 


46 


nacoochee;  or, 


while  in  a  small  room  adjoining  slept  a  boy 
who  was  subject  to  epileptic  fits.  One  night, 
after  we  had  gone  to  bed,  we  were  aroused  from 
sleep  by  hearing  the  sharp,  distressed  voice  of 
this  boy  calling  to  us  in  piteous  tones : 

"  John  !  Lorenzo  !  Call  Mr.  Newsom.  I  am 
having  a  fit !  " 

We  sung  out  at  the  top  of  our  voices,  as  in 
duty  bound : 

"  Mr.  Newsom  !  Mr.  Newsom  !  Come  here  ! 
Jim  Jarvey  is  having  a  fit !  " 

Mr.  Newsom  quickly  lighted  a  candle,  threw 
around  him  a  wrapper,  and  hurried  up  stairs. 
Moved  by  resistless  curiosity,  and  also  encour- 
aged by  the  hope  of  rendering  aid,  we  went 
with  him  into  the  room  of  the  sufferer,  and 
there  saw  poor  Jim  lying  on  the  floor,  in  most 
awful  plight — his  arms  and  legs  tossing  about, 
his  face  distorted,  his  eyes  rolling  wide,  his 
mouth  foaming,  his  teeth  grinding,  and  his 
tongue  at  times  rolling  out  and  bloody  from 
being  caught  between  his  clenched  teeth.  The 
sight  was  horrible,  and  to  add  to  its  effect 
upon  us,  while  we  stood  holding  the  light  for 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


47 


Mr.  Newsom,  Jim  suddenly  threw  himself  over, 
as  if  trying  to  grasp  us  by  the  feet.    We  leaped 
away  with  a  scream  of  terror,  jostled  each  other, 
dropped  the  candle,  and  for  a  moment  came 
near  being  left  in  the  dark.    The  candle,  how- 
ever, was  duly  recovered,  the  appropriate  remedy 
administered,  the  fit  passed  away,  and  Jimmy, 
who  was  used  to  these  turns,  and  did  not  seem 
to  regard  them,  went  tranquilly  to  bed  and  to 
sleep.     Not  so,  however,  with  us  —  the  scene 
had  acted  too  strongly  upon  our  nervous  system. 
We  lay  awake  in  the  dark  a  long  time,  listening 
to  Tim's  hard  breathing,  talking  over  what  we 
had  just  witnessed,  and  picturing  to  ourselves 
and  to  each  other  how  dreadful  it  must  be  to 
be  afflicted  in  that  way.    Wearied  out  at  last, 
we  fell  into  a  troubled  doze,  each  lying  on  his 
right  side.    Soon,  Lorenzo  gave  a  nervous  start, 
rolled  over  toward  me,  and  threw  his  hand  in 
my  face.    I  awoke,  called  vividly  to  mind  the 
distortions  and  writhings  of  poor  Jim  Jarvey, 
and  fancying  that  Lorenzo  was  taken  in  the  same 
way,  I  seized  him,  held  him  at  arm's-length,  for 
fear  he  would  bite  me,  and  hallooed  lustily : 


48 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  Mr.  Newsom  !  Mr.  Newsom  !  Come  here  !  " 

Lorenzo,  awakened  by  my  rough  grasp  and 
loud  call,  became  equally  excited,  and  joined  in 
the  cry  for  "  Mr.  Newsom  !  Mr.  Newsom  !  " 

In  a  very  few  minutes,  Mr.  Newsom  came 
hurrying  up  stairs,  with  light  and  wrapper  as 
before. 

" What's  the  matter,  boys?"  he  hastened  to 
inquire. 

"  Lorenzo  has  a  fit,  sir,"  I  answered,  holding 
him  still  at  arm's-length. 

"  No,  sir,  it  is  John  that  has  the  fit,"  said 
Lorenzo,  trying  to  edge  away  from  me,  yet 
unable  to  break  my  hold. 

"  No,  sir,  it  is  Lorenzo ;  because  he  rolled 
over  and  hit  me  in  the  face,"  I  persisted. 

"  No,  sir,  it  is  John ;  because  he  caught  hold 
of  me,  and  he  will  not  let  me  go  yet,"  reiterated 
Lorenzo. 

"  You  foolish  boys,"  said  Mr.  Newsom,  now 
highly  amused,  as  well  as  provoked,  after  com- 
prehending the  case.  "  Neither  of  you  has  a 
fit,  except  a  fit  of  the  frights.  Be  quiet,  and  go 
to  sleep." 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME.  49 

With  that  he  left  us,  and  Lorenzo  and  I  had 
a  hearty  laugh  at  our  mutual  folly. 

There  are  some  water  scenesi  too,  that  claim  a 
record,  and  that  may  prove  useful  to  others,  as 
they  have  proved  to  myself. 

Seaboard  boys  are  usually  good  swimmers. 
They  begin  early,  practise  often,  and,  in  the 
buoyant  salt  water,  soon  learn  to  rival  the  ducks. 
My  cousin  and  I,  as  recorded  in  a  preceding 
volume,  had  learned  to  swim  soon  after  our 
return  from  Liverpool  ;  and  we  practised  so 
often  during  the  late  fall  and  early  spring  we 
spent  upon  the  coast,  and  succeeded  so  well,  that 
we  were  regarded  by  the  up-country  boys  as 
wonderfully  expert.  On  one  occasion,  however, 
this  reputation  came  near  costing  me  my  life. 

I  had  imprudently  emulated  some  larger  boys 
in  swimming  against  the  current  of  the  river  to 
a  certain  point.  The  bank  there  was  too  steep 
to  allow  of  landing,  and  my  only  chance  for 
rest  was  to  grasp  a  swinging  limb,  and  lie  sus- 
pended in  the  water,  after  which  I  floated  part 
of  the  way  down  to  our  swimming  -  ground. 
Before  reaching  it,  I  was  very  much  exhausted, 

VOL.  II.  —  D 


nacoochee;  or, 


and  began  to  doubt  whether  my  strength  would 
hold  out.  At  that  desperate  moment,  when 
yet  fifteen  or  twenty  yards  from  the  landing,  a 
large  boy  swam  to  me,  saying  he  was  going  to 
duck  me. 

"  Please  don't!  "  I  implored,  and  was  about  to 
tell  him  of  my  exhausted  condition,  when  he 
placed  his  hands  upon  my  shoulders,  and,  rising 
high  as  he  could,  sent  me  deep  under  water.  I 
rose  to  the  surface,  wiped  the  water  from  my 
eyes  and  mouth,  gave  him  a  wrathful  look,  and 
struck  out  again  for  shore.  The  boy  evidently 
did  not  apprehend  my  perilous  condition,  al- 
though I  told  him  I  was  nearly  spent ;  but  see- 
ing me  swim  pretty  strongly  —  for  my  strength 
was  for  the  moment  increased  by  anger  —  he 
came  behind  me  just  as  I  reached  some  horribly 
muddy  water  near  shore,  and  there  shoved  me 
down  again.  This  time  I  was  barely  able  to  rise 
to  the  surface,  and,  ere  doing  so,  gasped  for 
breath  and  drew  in  a  quantity  of  water  that 
strangled  me.  Two  strokes  brought  me  to  land. 
Had  two  more  been  necessary,  I  should  have 
perished.    For  some  moments  I  lay  helplessly 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


51 


in  the  mud  of  the  river  bank,  gasping  for  breath, 
and  making  a  sound  like  that  of  a  child  dying 
of  croup.  It  was  criminally  thoughtless  in  that 
boy  to  serve  me  so,  and  to  this  day  I  teach 
boys  that,  whatever  may  be  the  customs  of  the 
time  or  place,  it  is  not  right  for  one  to  duck 
another,  unless  certain  of  his  ability  to  help 
himself. 

Another  case  of  almost  drowning  occurred  in 
Lorenzo.  We  had  gone  to  swim  in  a  deep  mill- 
pond,  with  an  older  boy,  named  David  Yancey. 
We  had  brought  from  shore  a  small  log  about 
our  own  size,  and  had  amused  ourselves  with 
'diving  under  it  and  leaping  over  it,  and  lying  on 
it,  and  finally  left  it  in  deep  water,  near  a  large 
stump,  which  lifted  its  broad  top  within  waist- 
depth  of  the  surface.  Part  of  our  amusement 
had  been  to  stand  on  this  stump  and  plunge 
from  it  in  various  ways.  While  Lorenzo  and  I 
were  together  there,  he  suddenly  fell  backward 
from  the  stump,  and  rose  to  the  surface,  spurting 
the  water  from  his  mouth  at  a  ridiculous  rate. 
His  motions  were  so  comical,  and,  as  I  sup- 
posed, so  oddly  imitated  those  of  a  drowning 


52 


nacoochee;  or, 


person,  that  I  laughed  heartily,  and  called  on 
David,  who  was  swimming  near,  to  look  at  him. 
As  Lorenzo  saw  our  merriment,  he  stretched 
out  his  hands  to  me,  and  cried : 
>  "Save  me  !    Why  don't  you  save  me  ?" 

I  was  so  perfectly  possessed  with  the  idea 
that  this  was  only  a  piece  of  acting,  that  I  was 
about  to  laugh  again,  when  David  exclaimed : 
"  He  is  drowning !  " 

Scarcely  had  these  words  reached  my  ear, 
before  I  plunged  into  the  water  to  seize  him, 
but  was  stopped  by  our  more  thoughtful  com- 
panion, who  said,  peremptorily : 

"  Don't  touch  him  for  your  life.  He  will  drown 
you.    Come  here  ;  help  me  with  this? 

He  seized  the  log,  lying  only  a  few  feet  away, 
and  by  our  united  efforts  we  brought  it  to 
Lorenzo  as  he  was  sinking  for  the  usually  fatal 
third  time.  He  grasped  it,  and  we  towed  him 
quickly  ashore.  As  we  went  with  all  care,  he 
begged  us,  "  Please,  boys,  pull  smoothly.  Don't 
let  the  log  turn." 

He  thought  he  was  weak,  and  he  certainly 
looked  so ;  but  we  could  see  that  he  held  that 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


53 


log  with  the  grip  of  a  vice,  and  that,  if  we  had 
wallopped  him  over  in  the  water,  we  should  not 
have  broken  his  hold,  so  powerfully  does  a 
drowning  person  clutch  whatever  he  grasps. 
It  is  this  spasmodic  strength,  exerted  uncon- 
sciously, and  almost  involuntarily,  that  usually 
makes  an  approach  to  drowning  people  so  dan- 
gerous. It  is  incomparably  safer  to  do  as  David 
made  me  do,  or  to  reach  out  a  pole,  or  even  a 
switch,  or  a  handkerchief,  or,  if  absolutely 
necessary,  to  stretch  out  the  hand,  yet  keep  the 
person  at  arm's-length. 

These  incidents  remind  me  of  a  case  of  real 
drowning,  which  occurred  about  that  time,  and 
to  which  I  was  witness  after  the  act.  It  was 
that  of  a  young  man,  an  excelle7tt  swimmer,  who 
had  fallen  backward  out  of  a  boat.  When  I, 
with  other  boys,  reached  the  place  of  the  acci- 
dent, we  saw  a  crowd  of  people  assembled  on 
the  river  bank,  and  several  persons  in  boats,  or 
on  temporary  rafts,  upon  the  water,  dragging 
hooks  attached  to  poles,  and  loaded  lines,  to 
recover  the  body.  Several  physicians  also  were 
in  attendance,  and  when  at  last  the  cold,  drip- 


54 


NACOOCHEE  J  OR, 


ping  body  was  brought  ashore,  I  heard  one  of 
them  say : 

"  There  is  no  hope  of  his  life,  for  he  has  been 
under  water  a  full  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  we 
can  seldom  succeed  with  persons  who  have 
been  under  more  than  four  or  five  minutes. 
Still,  we  must  do  what  we  can." 

The  wet  clothes  were  immediately  removed, 
during  which  the  body  was  so  placed  as  to 
allow  the  water  to  drain  from  the  mouth  and 
throat ;  after  which  it  was  laid  comfortably,  as 
in  a  bed,  and  as  many  persons  as  could  get 
around,  were  engaged  with  warm  cloths,  (for  a 
fire  had  been  built,)  rubbing  the  skin  from  head 
to  foot,  to  restore,  if  possible,  the  animal 
warmth,  and  to  excite  the  circulation  of  the 
blood.  While  this  was  going  on,  the  physician 
in  charge  placed  his  mouth  inside  the  young 
man's  mouth,  and  blew  with  sufficient  force  to 
raise  the  chest.  Then  he  put  his  hand  upon 
the  breast,  and  pressed  it  downward  to  expel 
the  air,  as  in  natural  breathing.  This  process 
he  repeated  at  least  a  dozen  times,  saying  in  the 
intervals  : 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


ss 


"  If  we  can  only  start  the  blood,  that  will  start 
the  breath ;  or  if  we  can  start  the  breath,  that 
will  start  the  blood.  Work  away,  all  of  you, 
with  those  warm  cloths.  Don't  give  up  for  an 
hour.  It  is  a  hopeless  case,  it  is  true  ;  but  let 
us  remember  that  he  is  the  only  son  of  his 
mother,  and  she  is  a  widow." 

And  work  they  did,  faithfully,  for  more  than 
an  hour.  Even  Lorenzo  and  I  tried  our  hands 
when  the  others  ceased ;  and  one  of  the  college 
professors  brought  down  a  galvanic  apparatus, 
and  sent  shocks  through  the  heart,  lungs,  and 
limbs.  But  all  was  in  vain.  Life  had  probably 
been  extinct  before  the  body  left  the  water. 

Just  at  this  point  I  gained  another  piece  of 
information,  which  I  have  treasured  ever  since 
for  my  own  guidance  in  case  of  need. 

"  I  have  often  heard,"  said  some  one  in  the 
crowd,  "that  when  persons  are  pitched  sud- 
denly into  the  water,  from  the  upsetting  of 
a  boat,  or  a  sudden  fall  in  any  way,  good 
swimmers,  like  this  young  man,  are  almost 
as  often  drowned  as  those  who  cannot  swim 
at  all." 


56 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  That  is  true,"  responded  an  old  sailor,  who 
happened  to  be  present ;  "  but  it  is  because  the 
swimmer  gets  confused  under  water,  and  swims 
in  the  wrong  direction.  When  a  man  is  under 
water,  he  is  so  evenly  balanced  that  he  cannot 
tell  by  his  feelings  whether  he  is  head  up  or 
head  down.  If  he  would  only  be  quiet  for  a 
quarter  of  a  minute  his  feet  would  sink,  and 
his  head  would  rise,  and  then  he  would  nat- 
urally come  to  the  surface  right  end  up.  This  is 
usually  the  case  with  a  person  who  cannot 
swim.  He  kicks  and  paddles  away  to  the  best 
of  his  ability,  but  makes  no  headway,  because 
he  does  not  know  how.  Presently  he  rises  to 
the  surface,  because  he  is  naturally  lighter  than 
the  water,  and  then  he  is  caught  by  some  one 
and  saved.  But  when  a  good  swimmer  finds 
himself  suddenly  under  water,  he  is  apt  to 
strike  right  out  and  keep  on  in  the  direction 
that  his  head  points,  when  it  is  just  as  likely 
that  his  head  points  down  as  up,  and,  therefore, 
every  stroke  carries  him  nearer  to  death.  A 
sailor  is  very  liable  to  such  accidents.  I  have 
fallen  into  the  water  a  hundred  times,  more  or 


BOY- LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


57 


less ;  but  whenever  I  do,  I  wait  a  bit,  till  I  am 
sure  my  head  and  legs  have  had  time  to  settle 
right — it  will  take  only  a  quarter  of  a  minute  — 
then  I  make  a  bold  stroke,  and  come  to  the 
surface." 


CHAPTER  VI. 


ON  AN    ERRAND  A    STONE  -  BRUISE  LORENZO'S 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  INDIANS  SHOOTING  AT 

A  MARK  UCHEE  CAMP,  COOKERY,  AND  LAN- 
GUAGE GLADDENING  DINNER  EFFECTS  OF  A 

MIRROR  AND  OF  A  PORTRAIT  UCHEE  HISTORY. 

BARELY  heard  the  two  words,  "Hallo, 
Johnnie ! "  from  Lorenzo,  when  a  gust  of 
wind  took  away  the  rest,  all  except  a 
confused  murmur,  in  which  he  beckoned  earn- 
estly to  me,  and  pointed  to  something  in  the 
midst  of  a  knot  of  people  near  whom  he  was 
standing. 

It  was  after  school  and  before  dinner.  He 
had  gone  down  the  street  on  an  errand  for 
Mrs.  Newsom,  while  I,  lame  with  a  painful  stone- 
bruise,*  stood  on  the  sidewalk  and  watched 

*  This  was  the  name  we  used  to  give  to  a  blue  -  looking 
blood-boil  under  the  foot. 

58 


NACOOCHEE. 


59 


him.  He  had  walked  rapidly  till  he  came  near 
a  little  gathering  of  people  in  the  street,  when 
he  stopped  a  moment  to  look,  then  hallooed  to 
me.  The  wind,  however,  was  too  high  for  me 
to  hear  what  he  said,  or  to  reply,  and  I  was  too 
lame  to  walk  that  distance  on  an  uncertainty,  so 
I  shook  my  head  and  remained  still. 

I  could  see  from  his  motions  that  he  was 
much  interested,  and  that  he  would  gladly  re- 
main where  he  was,  and  have  me  join  him.  But 
as  I  declined  going,  he  passed  on.  For,  excited 
though  he  was,  and  eager  to  see  the  sight  there, 
he  was  on  an  errand,  and  there  was  a  rule  which 
he  seldom,  if  ever,  failed  to  obey,  "Business  first, 
and  pleasure  afterward" 

He  left  the  crowd,  accomplished  his  errand  in 
a  very  few  minutes,  then  came  back  in  a  run, 
until  he  reached  the  scene  of  interest,  where  he 
did  not  stop,  but  passed  in  a  slow  walk,  drink- 
ing in  with  his  eyes  and  ears  something  which 
he  seemed  greatly  to  enjoy. 

"  Indians  !  Johnny,  Indians  !  "  he  shouted, 
the  moment  he  was  within  easy  hail.  "  Real 
live  Indians ! " 


6o 


nacoochee;  or, 


There  was  in  the  street,  so  he  reported,  a 
whole  family  of  red  people  —  a  man,  woman, 
boy,  and  child  —  and  the  man  and  boy,  with 
bows  and  arrows,  were  making  sport  for  the 
people  by  shooting  at  a  mark. 

"  I  did  so  want  to  stop  and  see  them,"  he 
said,  "but  I  did  not  care  to  be  there  without 
you;  and  besides,  I  was  on  business.  But  if 
you  wish  to  see  them  before  dinner,  you  had 
better  hurry  down  now.  I  will  overtake  you 
before  you  get  half-way." 

He  ran  into  the  house,  delivered  his  message 
to  Mrs.  Newsom,  informed  her  of  our  wish  to 
see  the  Indians  for  a  few  minutes  before  dinner, 
and  soon  overtook  me  limping  slowly  down  the 
street. 

"  Here,  take  my  arm ;  it  will  help  you  on  a 
little  faster,"  he  said ;  then,  as  we  walked  along 
and  had  time  for  a  few  words,  he  added :  "  I 
don't  think  I  shall  like  Indians  as  much  as  I 
expected." 

"Why  not?"  I  asked. 

"They  are  too  dirty,"  he  answered,  "and, 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


61 


more  than  that,  they  look  so  coarse  and 
savage." 

On  reaching  the  spot  and  taking  a  survey,  I 
was  not  surprised  at  his  disappointment,  and,  in 
fact,  at  his  disgust.  The  Indians  before  us  were 
very  dark-skinned,  very  dirty,  very  ragged,  and 
apparently  very  stupid.  The  boy,  who  was 
about  our  own  age,  with  high  cheek-bones,  hair 
tangled  into  mats,  and  restless,  twinkling  eyes, 
was  a  perfect  specimen  of  the  savage.  As  for 
uncouthness  and  uncleanliness  of  person  and  of 
raiment,  it  was  hard  to  tell  which  exceeded,  the 
father,  mother,  boy,  or  baby. 

The  target,  at  which  the  father  and  son  were 
shooting,  was  a  silver  six -and -a- quarter- cent 
piece,  (the  smallest  coin  in  general  use  at  that 
time,)  stuck  in  the  cleft  of  a  splinter,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  ten  steps.  In  the  course  of  eight  or 
ten  shots,  the  money  or  splinter  was  struck 
down,  and  the  coin  was  pocketed.  Most  of  the 
arrows  flew  so  wide  of  the  mark  that  Lorenzo 
and  I,  who  prided  ourselves  on  our  archery, 
could  not  help  saying  to  each  other  that  we 
could  shoot  better  than  that  ourselves. 


62 


nacoochee;  or, 


When  the  shooting  was  over,  I  went  up  to 
the  parties,  between  whom  not  a  word  or  sound 
had  been  exchanged,  except  an  occasional  grunt, 
and  said  to  the  man,  in  an  interrogative  tone : 

"  Tsellahkee  ?  "  * 

To  which  he,  in  a  negative  tone,  replied: 
"  Nuh." 

"  Muscogee?"    "  Nuh." 

"  Choctaw?"  "Nuh." 

"  Then  what  ?  "    "  Uchee." 

I  felt  relieved,  for  I  had  heard  that  the  Uchees 
were  a  very  low  and  degraded  race,  and  there- 
fore I  turned  to  Lorenzo,  saying : 

"  You  must  not  expect  all  other  Indians  to  be 
so  low  down  as  these." 

We  learned,  on  further  inquiry,  that  these 
were  not  the  only  Indians  in  town,  but  that 
some  eighteen  or  twenty  more  were  encamped 
in  a  grove  of  pines  near  the  river ;  that  they 
had  left  home  in  miserable  plight  in  conse- 
quence of  the  failure  of  acorns  and  other  mast, 
on  which  they  mainly  depended  for  their  winter 

*  Tsel-lah-kee  was  the  usual  Indian  pronunciation  of  the 
word  Cherokee. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


63 


food,  and  that,  in  a  state  bordering  on  starva- 
tion, they  had  come  among  the  whites  to  beg 
for  bread. 

That  evening,  after  school,  Lorenzo  and  I 
went  to  visit  them  in  camp,  carrying  a  few 
articles  of  clothing  for  the  boy  we  had  seen. 
We  found  the  company  lodged  under  the  pines, 
and  living  in  what  some  might  call  "  a  state  of 
nature,"  but  which  seemed  to  us  a  very  unnatural 
state  for  any  beings  except  brutes.  They  had 
no  tents,  nor  other  shelter,  more  than  a  few 
poles  broken  by  hand,  leaned  together,  and 
thinly  covered  with  bark ;  no  beds,  no  bed- 
covers, except  the  pine-straw  heaped  together 
like  a  hog-bed  ;  no  enclosure  to  keep  off  dogs 
or  pigs;  and  no  stores  nor  possessions  of  any 
kind  that  we  could  see,  but  what  they  carried 
on  their  persons.  A  picture  of  more  squalid 
poverty  would  be  difficult  to  conceive. 

When  we  arrived  they  were  in  great  glee, 
preparing  their  evening  meal.  Several  fires  had 
been  made,  and  the  corn-meal  obtained  that  day 
had  been  made  into  dough,  and  thrust  under 
the  ashes  to  bake,  in  the  shape  of  small  loaves; 


64  nacoochee;  or, 

while  suspended  on  poles,  near  the  blaze,  were 
the  half-cleansed  offals  of  beef  and  pork,  which 
had  been  given  them  by  their  special  request. 

The  only  language  we  heard  among  them, 
yet  one  which  they  seemed  to  understand  well 
among  themselves,  were  certain  grunted  modi- 
fications of  the  sounds  Ahh,  Ehh,  Eeh,  Ohh, 
Uh,  Ugh,  Ungh,  Ingh. 

Not  a  word  or  a  grunt  was  addressed  to  us, 
nor  even  a  look  given  that  we  could  detect. 
They  ignored  our  presence  as  perfectly  as  if 
we  had  been  so  many  stumps.  Even  the  boy 
whom  we  called  to  receive  our  presents,  took 
no  notice  of  us  further  than  to  utter  an  Ungh 
of  satisfaction  as  he  appropriated  the  offering, 
when,  without  a  word  or  sign,  he  returned  to 
the  fire  to  enjoy  the  delicious  odor  of  the  roast- 
ing entrails. 

Disgusted  with  these  evidences  of  almost 
brutal  degradation,  we  returned  to  our  lodgings, 
sadly  cut  down  in  our  romance,  and  disposed  to 
abandon  forever  our  plans  of  wild  life  among 
the  children  of  the  forest.    We  made  no  other 


BOY-LIFE  FROM   HOME.  65 

visit  to  the  Uchee  camp,  being  fully  satisfied 
with  that  one. 

But  though  we  did  not  repeat  our  visit  to  their 
camp,  we  met  them  often  in  the  town. 

On  one  occasion  we  were  present  when  the 
whole  company  had  assembled  in  the  back  yard 
of  the  principal  hotel,  on  an  invitation  from  the 
proprietor  to  come  and  enjoy  some  food  already 
cooked.  Their  delight  was  unbounded  at  this 
unusual  liberality,  and,  as  we  had  occasion 
afterward  to  know,  their  gratitude  was  sincere, 
though  not  expressed  according  to  the  usual 
modes  of  civilized  life. 

After  they  had  eaten  to  their  satisfaction,  and 
each  one  had  something  over,  the  proprietor 
amused  himself  and  his  white  guests  by  hang- 
ing from  the  window,  for  their  inspection,  a 
large  mirror  and  his  own  portrait,  which  was  a 
full-sized  bust,  and  an  excellent  likeness. 

The  mirror  was  first  let  down,  and  though  it 
was  not  altogether  a  novelty,  since  looking- 
glasses  are  usually  to  be  found  among  all 
people,  however  rude,  it  was  the  first  they  had 
ever  met  of  size  sufficient  to  reflect  the  whole 

VOL.  II. — E 


66 


nacoochee;  or, 


person.  The  amusement  it  furnished  them,  and 
through  them  to  ourselves,  was  very  great. 
They  placed  themselves  before  it  in  the  most 
grotesque  attitudes,  twisted  their  features  into 
every  variety  of  expression,  and  strutted  before 
it  as  if  showing  themselves  off  to  themselves. 

There  was  one  little  fellow,  however,  who 
had  never  before  seen  a  mirror,  big  or  little, 
and  whose  bewilderment  was  laughable.  He 
evidently  mistook  his  own  image  in  the  glass 
for  another  boy  imitating  his  motions;  he  made 
mouths  at  him,  looked  fierce,  and  finally  became 
so  enraged  at  the  insulting  and  defiant  looks  of 
the  person  in  the  glass  that  he  took  up  a  stone 
to  pelt  him,  when  the  glass  was  saved  by  being 
quickly  drawn  up  beyond  his  reach. 

It  was  the  portrait,  however,  that  produced 
the  greatest  commotion.  This  was  to  them  a 
perfect  novelty,  one  not  even  heard  of  before. 
When  the  curtain  before  it  was  removed,  their 
eyes  stretched  wide,  and  they  shrank  from  it 
as  if  with  painful  apprehension.  One  of  them 
said  afterward  that  he  took  it  for  the  ghost  of 
the  proprietor;  another  said  he  thought  that 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


67 


their  kind  friend  had  been  cut  in  two  and  let 
down  the  wall  in  a  kind  of  frame.  The  first 
impression  upon  them  all  was  that  of  dread. 
But  when  they  looked  to  the  balcony  and  saw 
their  benefactor  watching  them  with  a  smile  and 
beckoning  their  nearer  approach,  their  fears 
vanished,  they  cautiously  gathered  around  and 
gazed  at  it  with  wonder. 

One  came  and  talked  to  it,  evidently  expecting 
an  answer.  Another  made  ridiculous  motions 
before  it,  to  draw  from  it  a  smile  ;  and  a  third 
held  out  his  hand,  saying  earnestly,  "  Howdye  ! 
howdye!"  All  of  them  soon  noticed  the  fact 
that  wherever  they  went  the  eyes  of  the  portrait 
seemed  to  be  fixed  upon  them.  This  singular 
power  of  looking  at  them  all  individually,  at 
the  same  time,  was  so  wonderful  that  they  never 
wearied  of  testing  it.  They  shifted  their  posi- 
tions, near,  far,  before  it,  beside  it,  below  it,  and 
shouted  merrily  to  see  the  eyes  follow  them 
wherever  they  went.  We  could  not  understand 
a  word  they  spoke,  but  their  actions  and  ex- 
pressions said  very  plainly : 

"  He  is  looking  at  me  !  " 


68 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  No ;  he  is  looking  at  me  !  " 
"Yes;  he  is  looking  at  all  of  us  at  the  same 
time!" 

Then  followed  a  peal  of  laughter. 

All  this  happened  only  a  few  days  before  the 
final  examination  of  our  Grammar-School,  which 
was  succeeded  by  a  six  weeks'  vacation,  extend- 
ing beyond  Christmas.  My  father  came  to 
attend  this  examination,  and  to  take  us  home. 
He  arrived  before  the  Uchees  left,  and,  after 
making  them  a  visit  at  their  camp,  he  said 
to  us  : 

"  You  have  in  these  people  a  fair  specimen  of 
the  lower  tribes  of  Indians  everywhere,  espe- 
cially of  those  who  live  in  the  prairies  of  the 
Far  West.  There  is  in  them  very  little  to 
attract  the  white  man.  But  you  must  not  judge 
of  all  by  these.  The  Uchees  are  one  of  the 
many  tribes  that  compose  the  Creek  nation. 
They  once  inhabited  a  large  portion  of  what  is 
now  the  State  of  Georgia,  and,  when  first  known, 
were  a  very  warlike  people,  though  they  were  so 
deficient  in  language  that  the  Eufaulas,  a  neigh- 
boring tribe,  used  to  say,  'The  Uchees  cannot 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


talk ;  they  only  grunt.'  They  were  conquered 
by  the  Muscogees,  a  more  powerful  and  more 
intelligent  tribe,  who  lived  formerly  in  Mexico, 
and  were  the  allies  of  Montezuma,  but  who  left 
their  country  after  the  Spaniards  took  posses- 
sion, and  travelled  North  and  East,  until  they 
settled  in  what  is  now  Alabama,  and  thence  ex- 
tended their  conquests  as  far  as  the  Savannah 
river,  where  the  Uchees  lived.  It  is  said  that 
of  all  the  tribes  that  compose  the  Creek  nation, 
the  Uchees  are  lowest  in  the  scale  of  civiliza- 
tion; while,  in  that  same  scale,  the  Creeks,  as 
a  people,  are  said  to  be  considerably  below  the 
Cherokees.  So  you  must  not  judge  of  all  other 
tribes  by  them." 


CHAPTER  VII. 


SCHOOL-BOY  GAMES  WICKED  PRANK  NECESSITY 

SOMETIMES    OF    BLIND'    OBEDIENCE    FENCING 

BOUT    UNLOOKED  -  FOR  ANTAGONIST    WAR- 
WHOOP   CHOLA-FIXICO  PROPOSED  BALL-PLAY 

 INDIAN  PHYSIQUE  IS  IT  A  FAILURE  ? 

ITHER  there  were  no  incidents  worthy 
of  record  during  the  summer  of  1821, 
or  Memory  wrote  with  very  poor  ink  — 
they  have  faded  from  sight. 

Lorenzo  and  I  made  creditable  progress  in 
"  Tityre,  tu  patulae  recubans,"  and  began  to  work 
in  earnest  with  Ttipto,  tupso,  tetupha,  and  kindred 
roots.  The  teachers  informed  our  father  that, 
if  we  kept  on  at  this  rate,  we  should  be  ready 
to  enter  college  one  or  two  years  in  advance  of 
our  required  age. 

Did  I  not  suppose  that  the  young  readers  of 

70 


XACOOCHEE. 


71 


these  pages  are,  like  myself,  impatient  to  arrive 
at  the  wilder  scenes  of  the  story,  I  should  be 
tempted  to  stop  for  a  while,  and  describe  some 
of  our  old  favorite  games,  such  as  base -ball, 
foot -ball,  sky -ball,  shinny,  leaping,  "  hop- 
scotch," "hop,  skip,  and  jump,"  but  time  would 
fail  to  tell  of  these  and  of  other  things  of  equal 
interest. 

There  is  one  incident,  however,  brought  freshly 
to  my  mind  by  seeing  recently  in  the  public 
prints  the  name  of  a  person  who  was  the  chief 
actor  in  it,  and  who  has  been  so  lost  to  sight 
these  forty  years  that  I  had  supposed  him  dead. 
I  narrate  it  to  show  two  things  :  First,  the  evil 
influences  to  which  young  people  away  from 
home  are  oftentimes  exposed ;  and,  secondly, 
the  importance  of  obeying  precisely,  and,  if  need 
be,  blindly,  the  commands  of  those  who  have  a 
right  to  rule. 

One  of  the  most  stringent  orders  of  our 
excellent  guardian  was,  that  we  should  never 
enter  a  certain  store  in  the  place,  except  by 
special  permission,  and  then  only  on  condition 
that  we  should  remain  no  longer  than  was 


72 


nacoochee;  or, 


necessary.  No  reasons  were  given  for  the  order, 
and  we  thought  it  very  hard  and  arbitrary,  be- 
cause this  was  the  chief  store  in  the  place  for 
candies  and  other  nice  things ;  and,  moreover, 
the  clerk  who  waited  upon  us  was  so  obliging, 
and  so  full  of  jokes  and  other  pleasantries,  that 
we  liked  his  company.  Well,  one  day,  Lorenzo 
and  I  went  to  purchase  some  sugar-plums,  and 
were  in  the  act  of  coming  out  as  usual,  when 
the  clerk  said,  with  more  than  usual  blandness : 

"  Boys,  I  have  other  things  besides  candy 
and  sugar-plums  that  I  think  you  would  like, 
for  I  have  seen  you  going  to  old  Aunt  Lucy's  " 
(a  colored  woman's)  "stall,  after  cakes  and  beer, 
and  I  have  what  is  better  than  that.  Come 
here,  and  I  will  show  you." 

This  offer  seemed  fair  enough,  and  being,  as 
we  supposed,  within  rule,  we  went  with  him. 
He  gave  us  each  a  small  tumbler  to  carry,  con- 
taining a  big  spoonful  of  sugar,  then,  raising  a 
trap-door,  he  added : 

"  Come  on.  I  don't  show  everybody  the 
good  things  I  keep  down  here." 

He  took  us  down  a  ladder-like  stairway,  into 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


73 


a  dimly-lighted  cellar,  where,  partly  filling  our 
tumblers  from  the  stop-cock  of  a  barrel,  he  said: 

"This  is  the  juice  of  apples.  Drink  it  —  it 
won't  hurt  you  —  and  tell  me  if  old  Aunt  Lucy 
has  anything  half  so  good  as  this." 

Juice  of  apples  !  There  was  certainly  no  harm 
in  that.  We  tasted,  and  enjoyed  it  very  much, 
for  it  was  a  cider  made  from  highly-flavored  fruit. 
From  this  barrel  he  took  us,  with  our  sugared 
tumblers,  to  another,  from  which  he  partly  filled 
them,  saying : 

"This  is  the  juice  of  grapes.  I  like  it  better 
than  what  you  have  just  drank.  Taste  and  see 
which  you  prefer." 

The  grape-juice  was  rather  stronger  than  the 
other ;  but  it  was  disguised  by  the  melting 
sugar,  and  we  had  no  suspicion  of  there  being 
any  harm  in  it.  Turning  now  from  this  barrel 
to  another,  he  partly  filled  our  glasses  again, 
saying : 

"  This  is  the  juice  of  a  different  kind  of  grape. 
Perhaps  you  will  like  it  better  than  the  other. 
Taste,  and  see." 

Then,  going  to  another  still,  he  said ;  "  This 


74 


nacoochee;  or, 


is  the  juice  of  peaches.  But  it  is  so  strong  I 
must  mix  it  with  water  and  nutmeg.  Now,  you 
can  try  it.    Most  people  like  this  best  of  all." 

We  were  thus  decoyed  into  tasting,  little  by 
little,  quite  a  number  of  these  "juices,"  sup- 
posing, in  our  simplicity,  that  they  were  only 
a  better  quality  of  the  same  kind  that  we  felt 
free  to  use  at  "Aunt  Lucy's"  cake -stall,  and 
having  not  a  suspicion  that  the  intention  of  this 
oily-tongued  young  man  was  to  have  his  sport 
in  making  us  both  tipsy.  This  was  certainly  a 
very  wicked  thing  in  him,  and  the  more  I  think 
of  it,  the  more  wicked  it  seems.  I  hope  he  has 
long  since  repented  of  it ;  but  I  record  it  now 
as  a  warning  to  all  inexperienced  people  to  be 
on  their  guard  against  seducers. 

But  I  am  not  quite  done  with  the  story.  Our 
eyes  soon  began  to  twinkle  and  our  tongues  to 
chatter  all  sorts  of  nonsense.  The  young  man 
tried  hard  to  start  a  quarrel  and  a  fight  between 
Lorenzo  and  myself;  but  I  am  thankful  to  say 
he  was  disappointed,  our  friendship  proving  too 
strong  even  for  his  mixed  liquors.  We,  how- 
ever, became  very  noisy  and  rough,  chasing  each 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


7S 


other  round  the  room,  and  upsetting  things  in 
a  very  careless  way,  so  that,  after  having  gained 
from  us  all  the  amusement  possible,  he  turned 
us  out  of  his  store,  saying  he  was  afraid  we 
would  break  his  glasses. 

Not  knowing  even  then  what  was  the  matter, 
we  boys  took  each  other  by  the  hand,  and,  with 
a  whoop  and  a  halloo,  passed  up  the  street  to 
our  lodgings,  where,  in  due  time,  we  reported 
the  whole  case,  without  concealment,  to  our 
astonished  and  mortified  guardian. 

The  next  day,  after  we  had  recovered  from 
our  unnatural  excitement,  and  also  from  the 
horrible  headache  which  followed,  Mr.  Newsom 
said  kindly  to  us  : 

"You  can  now  understand  for  yourselves, 
boys,  why  I  forbade  your  lingering  in  that  store. 
I  did  not  like  to  tell  you  in  so  many  words  that 
that  pleasantly  -  spoken  young  man  was  what 
you  have  found  him  to  be,  though  if  you  now 
pronounce  his  treatment  of  you  to  be  wicked 
and  mean,  I  will  not  contradict  you.  But  there 
is  one  good  rule  which  this  will  help  you  learn: 
That  when  your  parents  or  guardians  give  you 


76 


nacoochee;  or, 


positive  instructions  about  anything,  and  espe- 
cially if  they  do  so  without  assigning  a  reason, 
be  sure  you  obey,  blindly,  if  need  be,  asking  no 
questions  for  conscience'  sake." 

It  was  in  November  of  that  same  year  that 
Lorenzo  and  I  were  detained  in  a  workshop, 
awaiting  some  unfinished  work,  when  two  col- 
legians came  in  and  kept  up  an  animated  talk 
about  swords  and  fencing.  They  chatted  away 
so  fast,  and  had  so  much  to  say  about  broad 
sword,  small  sword,  long  sword,  short  sword, 
cutlass,  scimeter,  rapier,  cut,  thrust,  parry,  ward, 
et  cetera,  that  we  little  boys  conceived  grand 
ideas  of  their  knowledge  and  accomplishments. 
The  discussion  at  last  ran  so  high,  and  one  of 
them  spoke  so  extravagantly  of  his  powers,  that 
the  younger,  who  seemed  to  be  quite  as  con- 
fident as  the  other  was  boastful,  challenged  him 
to  a  trial  of  skill.  There  were  no  foils  to  be 
had,  and  they  were  too  impatient  to  wait  until 
wooden  ones  could  be  made  ;  but,  learning  that 
there  were  some  old,  rusty  swords  in  a  room 
near  at  hand,  they  obtained  the  use  of  them  for 
a  few  minutes,  and  went  to  work,  promising  not 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


77 


to  hurt  each  other.  Cut  after  cut  was  made  and 
warded  off,  and  thrusts  parried  too  with  the 
awkward  instruments,  much  to  the  delight  and 
edification  of  us  youngsters,  when  the  circle  of 
spectators  was  suddenly  increased  by  the  en- 
trance of  an  Indian.  He  was  of  mixed  blood, 
about  twenty -two  years  of  age,  of  handsome 
face,  and  his  well-knit,  manly  figure  was  appro- 
priately set  off  by  a  highly  ornamented  suit  of 
buckskin.  Without  a  word  or  sign  to  indicate 
his  thoughts,  he  waited  until  the  elder  of  the 
combatants  dropped  the  point  of  his  weapon  in 
token  of  ceasing,  when  he  reached  out  his  hand 
to  him,  saying: 

"  Give  me  sword  ?  " 

Then,  turning  to  the  younger,  who  was  evi- 
dently elated  with  the  consciousness  of  victory, 
he  said : 

"  Come  on  !  " 

This  was  a  most  unexpected  turn  of  affairs. 
The  young  man  looked  at  the  brawny  frame 
and  eagle  eye  of  his  dusky  antagonist,  and  for  a 
moment  hesitated,  but  observing  that  the  Indian 
was  not  in  an  attitude  of  defence,  and  that  he 


78 


nacoochee;  or, 


did  not  even  hold  the  sword  according  to  rule, 
he  approached  and  made  a  gentle  cut  at  him, 
which  was  barely  parried;  then  another,  more 
vigorous;  then  a  feint  and  a  blow;  then  others 
in  quick  succession —  each  being  more  vigorous 
than  those  before  it,  but  all  of  them  handsomely 
warded  off.  Then  came  a  scene  worth  looking 
at.  The  Indian  wholly  changed  his  aspect.  His 
sword  was  no  longer  held  awkwardly,  nor  off 
guard,  but  was  a  familiar  plaything  in  his  hands. 
His  eye  began  to  flash,  and  his  face  to  writhe, 
as  if  in  anger  at  being  thus  ruthlessly  cut  at, 
and  with  that  came  a  change  in  the  order  of 
attack.  He  dealt  so  heavy  a  blow  as  almost  to 
beat  down  the  other's  guard;  then  another 
blow  and  another  in  such  quick  succession  that 
it  was  barely  possible  to  meet  them,  while  his 
sword  whizzed  overhead,  now  threatening  this 
point,  now  that,  and  his  eyes  flashed,  and  his 
face  worked  more  terribly  than  before. 

Some  of  us  began  to  be  seriously  alarmed  lest 
the  collegian  should  be  cut  down  by  this  wild- 
looking  man ;  but  he  manfully  stood  his  ground, 
and  warded  off  the  thickening  blows,  until  per- 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


79 


ceiving  that  he  was  destined  to  be  worn  out  by 
acting  on  the  defensive  without  the  chance  of  a 
blow  at  his  adversary  —  possibly  influenced, 
too,  by  the  feeling  of  fear  that  pervaded  some 
of  us  —  he  leaped  back  beyond  the  sweep  of 
the  sword,  and  dropped  the  point  of  his  weapon. 

The  moment  he  did  so,  the  Indian  put  his 
hand  to  his  mouth,  and  gave  a  shrill  whoop 
which  was  broken  into  many  parts  by  the  mo- 
tion of  his  fingers;  then,  with  a  good-natured 
laugh,  he  handed  back  the  sword  to  him  from 
whom  he  had  received  it,  saying : 

"  I  fight  for  you  !  " 

We  were  all  in  admiration  of  his  warlike 
accomplishments,  and  during  the  few  moments 
that  he  remained  in  the  room,  every  effort  was 
made,  but  in  vain,  to  learn  his  name,  his  nation, 
or  his  business. 

The  next  day  we  saw  posted  in  various  parts 
of  the  town  a  notice  that  on  Saturday,  at  ten 
o'clock,  at  a  certain  place,  there  would  be  a 
Ball-Play  between  eight  Creek  Indians,  under 
Chola-fixico,  on  one  side,  and  eight  Cherokee 
Indians,  under  Kaneeka,  on  the  other.   The  price 


8o 


nacoochee;  or, 


of  admission  to  the  scene  was  fixed  very  low, 
and  the  people  far  and  near  were  invited  to 
attend. 

Kaneeka!  The  name,  so  pleasantly  associated 
with  our  visit  to  the  Cherokees  three  years  be- 
fore, made  my  heart  beat.  I  asked  myself  the 
question,  whether  there  was  probably  more  than 
one  Kaneeka  in  the  nation  ;  and  I  went,  with 
Lorenzo,  at  our  first  possible  opportunity,  to 
look  for  him.  There  was,  however,  no  Chero- 
kee camp  to  be  found,  nor  were  any  Cherokees 
to  be  heard  of  in  the  town.  The  truth  was, 
they  had  not  yet  arrived  ;  they  had  only  agreed 
with  a  gentleman  to  be  there  at  a  certain  day 
and  hour  to  engage  in  this  play,  and  he,  know- 
ing their  punctiliousness  in  engagements  of  the 
kind,  had  made  the  appointment. 

At  the  time  and  place  specified,  there  was  a 
very  large  and  animated  assemblage,  not  only 
of  gay  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  place,  of 
collegians  and  school-boys,  of  farmers  and  farm- 
ers' families  from  the  neighborhood,  but  inter- 
mixed with  these  could  be  recognized  some  of 
the  dignitaries  of  the  college,  and  even  an  oc- 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


Si 


casional  preacher  of  the  gospel,  all  eager  to 
witness  this  struggle  for  honor  between  the 
picked  champions  of  two  rival  nations. 

The  ground  selected  for  the  game  was  a 
level  street,  in  which  the  lists  were  accurately 
measured  and  staked  out,  two  hundred  yards  in 
length  by  twenty-five  or  thirty  in  breadth. 

Within  these  lines  the  champions,  expectant, 
of  the  Creek  nation,  bared  to  the  waist,  and  bats 
in  hand,  awaited  the  coming  of  their  antagonists. 
They  were  headed  by  the  accomplished  young 
swordsman,  whom  we  had  already  met,  and  of 
whom  we  thus  learned  that  he  was  a  Creek  by 
nation,  and  that  his  name  was  Chola  -  fixico. 
The  naked  busts  of  most  of  these  wild  men 
were  perfect  models  of  the  human  form,  each 
worthy  of  an  Apollo,  and  many  an  observer  was 
astonished  at  the  unexpected  delicacy  of  the 
hands  and  feet  also,  not  remembering  that  a  red 
man  seldom  labors,  except  as  a  hunter  or  a 
warrior,*  and,  therefore,  that  he  is  entitled  to 
these  boasted  marks  of  gentility. 

*  It  is  but  fair  to  state,  in  this  connection,  that  this  beautiful 
symmetry  does  not  pervade  both  sexes.    The  drudgeries  of  life 
VOL.  II.  —  F 


82 


NACOOCHEE. 


But  where,  in  the  mean  time,  are  the  Chero- 
kees  ?  The  assembly  becomes  restless  ;  the  gen- 
tleman, who  is  responsible  for  the  appointment, 
shows  symptoms  of  uneasiness ;  the  Creeks  all, 
except  their  leader,  begin  to  utter  scornful  ex- 
pressions:  "  Cherokee  Traid  to  come;"  "  Chero- 
kee don't  dare  play ;  "  "  Coosah  always  beat ;  " 
and  the  proposal  is  buzzed  around  of  asking 
the  Creeks  to  divide  their  eight  players  into 
two  parties,  and  to  play  a  small  game  for  the 
waiting  company,  when  Chola-fixico  is  seen  to 
raise  his  head  quickly  into  a  listening  attitude, 
and  to  point  his  people's  attention  westward. 

For  a  time  we  see  and  hear  nothing,  but  soon 
there  arises,  on  the  outskirts  of  our  crowd,  an 
excited  hum  of  voices,  and  after  that  a  shout 
from  a  distance  : 

"Tsellakee!  Tsellakee !  " 

The  Cherokees  have  come  at  last.  They  are 
turning  the  corner  of  a  wooded  street,  eight  in 
number,  bats  in  hand,  stripped  to  the  waist,  and 
on  the  run. 

are  imposed  upon  their  women,  who  are,  therefore,  big-footed 
and  coarse-handed  in  proportion. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


ARRANGING          GETTING    READY         RESTING    IN  A 

HURRY  INDIAN  BALL  -  PLAY  ROUGH  SCENES 

 RIDING  A  MAN  BOY  -  SQUIRREL. 

IGHT  in  number  they  were,  and  stripped 
for  the  contest.  But  one  of  them  was  a 
slender  strippling  of  about  twelve  years 
of  age.  All  seemed  jaded  with  long  and  rapid 
marching,  and  in  vain  did  I  look  for  Kaneeka. 

After  a  hasty  conference  between  the  leaders 
of  the  two  sides  and  the  gentleman  in  charge, 
the  announcement  was  made  to  the  assembly 
that  the  Cherokees  had  been  detained  by  an 
accident  that  morning,  in  which  one  of  the 
party  had  been  killed,  their  chosen  chief  had 
been  temporarily  disabled,  and  the  whole  party 
delayed  some  hours  beyond  their  expected  time; 
that  they  needed  a  few  minutes'  rest  before  they 

83 


84  nacoochee;  or, 


could  be  in  condition  to  play,  but  that  they 
insisted  on  fulfilling  their  part  of  the  engage- 
ment. 

This  evidence  of  pluck  greatly  interested  the 
spectators,  and  gained  from  them  a  hearty  as- 
sent to  rest  as  long  as  necessary.  The  demand 
was  also  made  by  Chola-fixico,  and  resolutely 
insisted  upon,  that  whereas  a  boy  had  been 
substituted  in  place  of  one  of  the  players,  on 
the  Cherokee  side,  a  similar  substitution  should 
be  made  on  his  side.  This  act  of  native  chivalry, 
indeed  of  almost  heroism,  when  all  the  facts  are 
considered,  brought  from  the  assembly  shouts 
of  applause  which  made  the  air  ring. 

During  the  time  allotted  to  rest,  the  Chero- 
kees  were  conducted  to  the  College  Spring,  not 
far  distant,  where  they  bathed  their  weary  legs, 
and  cooled  their  heated  feet  in  a  temporary 
reservoir  constructed  for  the  purpose,  and  where 
refreshments  were  hastily  brought  them  from 
the  neighborhood. 

Feeling  a  natural  partiality  for  my  old  ac- 
quaintances, I  went  with  them  to  the  spring, 
accompanied  by  Lorenzo,  where  I  made  special 


BOY- LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


Ss 


inquiries  after  Kaneeka,  and  also  offered  our 
services  in  anything  we  could  do. 

We  learned  that  the  accident  befalling  Ka- 
neeka was  not  serious,  though  disabling  for  the 
time.  A  tree  had  fallen  across  the  encampment, 
striking  him  a  stunning  blow  with  one  of  its 
limbs,  and  instantly  killing  an  old  man  who 
was  coming  to  witness  the  contest. 

No  assistance  was  needed — nothing  but  rest, 
and  that  they  were  enjoying  as  freely  as  it  could 
be  furnished  by  cool  water  and  manipulation. 
We  were  quite  amused  at  the  process  by  which 
the  resting  was  accelerated  —  the  legs,  bared 
and  bathed,  were  scratched  with  the  sharp, 
comb-like  teeth  of  the  garfish,  until  they  were 
streaked  with  blood  from  the  thigh  to  the  ankle. 
The  boy  who  served  in  Kaneeka' s  place,  and 
who  was  quite  proud  of  the  appointment,  was 
as  resolute  as  any  of  them  in  the  use  of  this 
bloody  relief  to  fatigue. 

Half  an  hour  sufficed  for  rest.  The  players 
assembled  at  the  centre  of  the  ground,  and 
gathered  close  around  the  two  chiefs,  who  tossed 
up,  for  choice  of  ground,  a  flat  stone  wetted  on 


86 


nacoochee;  or, 


one  side,  just  as  boys  do  now.  The  ball  was 
then  thrown  perpendicularly  into  the  air,  caught 
on  its  descent,  and  hurried  to  one  or  the  other 
boundary  at  the  extremities  of  the  lines.  The 
only  instrument  in  use  was  what  was  called  the 
ball-stick,  consisting  of  a  handle  twelve  or  four- 
teen inches  long,  with  a  strongly  woven  cavity 
at  the  end,  shaped  like  the  half-closed  palm  of 
one's  hand,  for  catching  and  holding  the  ball. 
Of  these  ball-sticks  (or  spoon-shaped  bats)  each 
player  carried  a  pair. 

The  moment  the  ball  fell  within  possible 
reach,  several  of  the  players  leaped  into  the  air 
to  catch  it  with  their  ball-sticks,  and  whoever 
caught  it  would  grip  it  securely,  either  in  the 
cavity  of  the  bats  or  in  his  hand,  and  run  with 
all  speed  toward  his  end  of  the  ground,  while 
the  other  party  pursued,  seized,  threw  him  down, 
tripped  him,  did  anything,  in  fact,  to  stop  and 
wrest  the  ball  from  him ;  in  which  case,  it  was 
borne  in  the  other  direction  until  it  was  arrested 
and  turned  back. 

As  in  the  games  of  foot-ball,  shinny,  and 
some  others  which  consist  in  carrying  the  ball  to 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


87 


one  or  the  other  of  opposite  goals,  the  struggle 
swayed  back  and  forth  over  the  ground  by  rapid 
and  unlooked-for  changes.  Sometimes  a  party 
was  on  the  point  of  winning,  when  the  ball  was 
carried  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  the  game 
won  by  the  other  side. 

The  means  used  for  arresting  the  ball  and 
forcing  it  from  the  carrier,  were  in  the  highest 
degree  rough  and  unceremonious.  Tripping  was 
usually  preferred,  on  account  of  the  sudden  fall  it 
produced,  and  of  the  laugh  that  followed;  some- 
times the  runner  fell  with  such  force  as  for  a  few 
moments  to  lie  upon  the  ground  stunned  and 
breathless.  Seizing  him  as  he  passed,  throwing 
him  down,  and  wrenching  the  ball  from  his  grasp, 
was  another  mode,  in  which  oftentimes  the  whole 
strength  of  the  two  parties  was  concentrated 
at  one  point.  In  both  cases  it  was  a  rule  with 
the  ball -bearers,  when  tripped  or  seized  by 
superior  force,  or  in  certainty  of  being  over- 
powered, to  pitch  the  ball  forward  as  far  as  they 
could. 

Some  of  the  scenes  brought  from  the  specta- 
tors shouts  of  applause. 


88 


nacoochee;  or, 


A  player  had  been  caught  by  the  arm  before 
he  had  time  to  throw  the  ball,  and  in  the  strug- 
gle which  ensued  he  had  been  pitched  upon  by 
a  perfect  pyramid  of  friends  and  foes  —  the  first 
trying  to  set  him  free,  or  to  obtain  the  ball  by 
his  surrender  of  it  to  them,  or  by  their  snatching 
it  from  the  hands  of  the  others ;  the  last  cover- 
ing his  eyes  so  that  he  could  not  distinguish 
friend  from  foe,  while  two  of  them  held  his  arm, 
and  by  main  strength  bent  his  wrist  so  that  the 
ball  dropped  from  his  grasp.  The  moment  the 
ball  dropped,  however,  an  adroit  adversary,  who 
had  insinuated  himself  close  to  the  struggling 
parties,  snatched  it  up,  scrambled  out  of  the 
crowd,  ran  to  his  end  of  the  line,  and  won  the 
game. 

On  another  occasion,  the  boy  who  was  Ka- 
neeka's  substitute,  seeing  a  burly  Creek  rushing 
past  him,  ball  in  hand,  endeavored  to  trip  him, 
but  failing  in  this,  and,  knowing  that  he  had 
neither  the  weight  nor  the  strength  to  struggle 
successfully  with  a  man  of  such  size,  waited 
until  the  other  passed,  when,  with  the  agility 
of  a  monkey,  he  leaped  upon  his  back,  hugged 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


89 


him  tightly  with  both  arms  and  legs,  and  choked 
him  so  effectually  as  to  stop  his  course.  The 
ridiculous  sight  of  a  boy  riding  a  man,  who  in 
vain  tried  to  shake  him  off,  produced  roars  of 
laughter.  Even  the  unfortunate  man  himself, 
who  at  first  looked  rather  dark  in  the  face,  (per- 
haps from  the  effect  of  choking,)  soon  afterward 
shook  his  finger  at  the  boy  in  pretended  threat, 
saying  : 

"  Holly-woggus !  Hy-e-bus-chay  !  "  (Be  off, 
you  good-for-nothing  ! )  and  then  himself  joined 
in  the  laugh. 

Three  games  were  played,  consisting  of 
several  rounds  each.  The  first  was  gained  by 
the  Creeks;  the  second  barely  gained  by  the 
Cherokee's,  and  the  third  was  drawn,  or  so 
nearly  even  that  it  could  not  be  decided  in 
favor  of  either  party7.  This  was  exactly  what 
the  spectators  preferred.  The  prize  -  money, 
which  was  paid  as  entrance-fee,  and  which  was 
considerably  increased  by  donations,  was  equally 
divided  between  the  leaders,  and  by  them  par- 
celled out  to  the  individuals  of  their  respective 
parties.    Most  of  it  was  in  coin,  and  though  the 


go 


nacoochee;  or, 


whole  amount  would  have  appeared  small  in  the 
eyes  of  the  more  moneyed  whites,  it  was  so  sat- 
isfactory to  the  Indians  that  there  was  many  an 
utterance  of  gratified  surprise. 

"  Uhh-nus-kah  ! "  (Yes  ;  all  right !  )  said  one 
Cherokee.  " Naw-ske,  O-see-u  !  "  (Yes;  good!) 
said  another.  "  Talla-ackwah  !  "  (Money  big  ! ) 
"Ahh,  ackwa-hee  !  "  (Yes,  big  for  true!)  said  an- 
other, admiring  the  shining  heap. 

The  Creeks  I  could  not  understand  so  well ; 
but  a  friend,  who  was  present,  helped  me  to 
catch  the  words  "Tuckanoy,"  (Money,)  "  Enklis  " 
and  "  Enklis-chay,"  (Good,  very  good,)  "Sac-ca- 
sum-ky,"  (To  be  praised.) 

Throughout  all  these  games,  it  was  universally 
noticed  that  though  there  was  many  a  shout 
and  laugh  of  merriment,  there  was  not  the  first 
word  of  anger  or  sign  of  impatience ;  and  that, 
however  rough  their  usage  of  each  other  in  the 
progress  of  the  play,  there  was  observed,  as  to 
the  decencies  of  life,  a  strict  decorum.  An  in- 
telligent gentleman  remarked  in  my  hearing : 

"  I  doubt  if  sixteen  men  from  any  two  civ- 
ilized nations  could  play  a  like  game  in  so 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


91 


good  a  spirit,  especially  if  those  nations  were 
rivals." 

To  which  a  clergyman  near  at  hand  re- 
sponded : 

"An  Indian  is  trained  from  childhood  to 
believe  that  anger  and  impatience  in  play  is  a 
disgrace.  Everything,  therefore,  is  taken  in 
good  part.  In  this  they  excel  our  Christian 
children.  And  why?  Because  they  are  trained 
to  it,  and  we  are  not." 

Another  fact  was  noticed  by  many :  that 
Chola-fixico  showed  great  consideration  for  the 
travel-worn  and  half-disabled  condition  of  his 
competitors.  This  more  than  once  caused  the 
ladies  —  who  are  quicker  than  men  to  discern 
anything  having  the  aspect  of  chivalry  —  to 
clap  their  hands  in  token  of  approval.  On 
his  being  questioned  afterward  on  the  subject, 
he  said  there  would  have  been  no  credit  in  win- 
ning the  game  against  disabled  men ;  there  was 
more  in  sharing  it  with  them. 

Another  fact  attracted  the  attention  of  all,  and 
particularly  of  us  boys  ;  that  was,  the  exceeding 
agility  and  skill  of  the  boy  substituted  in  place 


92 


nacoochee;  or, 


of  Kaneeka  on  the  Cherokee  side.  There  was 
nothing  in  his  appearance  or  manner  specially 
prepossessing.  He  was  of  much  lighter  com- 
plexion than  most  others  of  his  tribe,  being  evi- 
dently of  mixed  blood,  though  not  a  half-breed. 
His  face  indicated  only  ordinary  intelligence, 
and  in  person  he  was  slender,  with  a  decided 
stoop  in  his  square  shoulders.  In  repose  there 
was  nothing  to  distinguish  him  from  others ; 
but  in  the  ball-play  he  was  the  "  observed  of  all 
observers."  Every  thought  and  power  seemed 
to  be  concentrated  in  what  was  before  him.  He 
was  remarkably  fleet  -  footed,  his  motions  were 
quick  and  springy,  and  his  skill  in  catching  and 
throwing  the  ball  was  such  that  he  seldom 
missed  his  aim.  Not  only  did  he  leap  on  the 
man's  back,  as  described  in  the  game,  but  on 
two  occasions,  when  the  ball  was  flying  past,  we 
saw  him  leap  into  the  air  with  the  springiness 
of  a  cat,  and,  having  caught  it  with  his  bat,  run 
with  it  a  considerable  distance,  and  then  throw 
it  forward. 

"Who  is  that  boy?"  a  spectator  asked  of  the 
Cherokee  leader  at  the  conclusion  of  the  game. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


93 


"  Kaneeka's  young  brother,"  he  replied. 

"  Remarkable  boy  ! "  continued  the  white  man. 
"  He  is  active  as  a  squirrel.'' 

"That  is  his  name,"  returned  the  Indian;  "at 
home  they  call  him  Sal-o-quah."  * 

*  A  word  or  two  about  this  name. 

First  as  to  its  form.  It  is  possible  that  some  who  remember 
the  Cherokee  language,  will  not  recognize  this  word  as  the  one 
meaning  squirrel.  The  truth  is,  that,  at  the  date  of  our  story, 
the  pronunciation  of  Cherokee  was  very  unsettled.  For  in- 
stance, the  national  name  was  by  some  pronounced  Cher-o-kee ; 
by  others,  Tsel-a-kee ;  and  by  others  still,  Shel-la-kee.  So  the 
word  signifying  Squirrel  was  by  some  pronounced  Sal-o-ah  or 
Sal-o-eh;  by  others,.  Sal-o-lah  or  Sal-o-leh,  Sa-lo-quah  or  Sal- 
o-gwah. 

Next  as  to  its  accent.  The  name  of  our  young  acquaintance 
should  be  pronounced  with  the  main  stress  of  voice  on  the  last 
syllable,  Sal-o-QUAH.  To  accent  the  final  syllable  is  the  rule 
in  Cherokee. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


A    ROUGH    SUNDAY  BELL    WANTED  SACRILEGE 

 SINGULAR  INVITATION  "  SOAP  TOO  DIRTY  " 

 SOLAR  MICROSCOPE  HIDEOUS  ELEPHANTS. 

HE  next  day  was  Sunday.  We  assem- 
bled for  worship  in  the  only  building  in 
the  place  fit  to  accommodate  an  audi- 
ence ;  and,  therefore,  used  for  public  assemblies 
of  all  sorts,  whether  for  education,  politics,  or 
religion  —  the  College  Chapel.  It  was  a  wooden 
building,  surmounted  by  a  small,  unsightly 
cupola,  in  which  hung  the  only  public  bell  of 
the  place.  The  seats  upon  the  main  floor  were, 
on  Sundays,  appropriated  to  the  citizens,  of 
whom,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  the 
males  sat  on  one  side  of  the  house  and  the 
females  on  the  other,  while  the  College  students 
and  the  Grammar  -  School  boys  occupied  the 

94 


NACOOCHEE. 


95 


spacious  galleries  above,  where  also,  at  conveni- 
ent distances,  sat  our  officers  and  tutors,  for  the 
purpose  of  preserving  order. 

I  am  going  to  relate  an  incident  which,  in 
justice,  demands  a  little  preparatory  explanation. 

In  the  year  1821,  the  whole  up  -  country  of 
Georgia,  except  a  few  spots,  was  exceedingly 
wild,  and  the  people  as  wild  as  the  country. 
From  the  neighborhood  of  Athens  the  prints 
of  moccasined  feet  had  scarcely  disappeared, 
and  many  of  the  inhabitants,  particularly  of  the 
young  and  foolish,  seemed  disposed  to  prefer 
for  their  types  of  society  the  savage,  rather 
than  the  civilized.  Indeed,  many  a  thing  was 
done  by  them  which  was  condemned  not  only 
by  right-minded  whites,  but  by  untutored  In- 
dians.   I  proceed  to  narrate  one  of  them : 

That  Sabbath-day  the  worshippers  came  to- 
gether more  slowly  and  irregularly  than  usual 
—  there  had  been  no  signal-bell.  The  families 
in  which  college- students  boarded  had  been 
informed  that  there  had  been  no  prayers  in  the 
chapel  that  morning,  and  that  no  bell  might  be 
expected  at  the  time  of  public  service. 


96 


nacoochee;  or, 


The  retirement  of  the  belfry  had  often  been 
invaded  by  adventurous  college-boys,  who,  ac- 
cording to  their  style  of  genius,  had  cushioned 
the  clapper,  or  tied  the  bell  fast,  or  devised 
some  other  mode  of  stopping  its  voice;  but 
this  morning  the  prank  exceeded  all  previous 
wantonness.  The  sexton  went,  as  usual,  to  ring 
the  sunrise-bell,  but  on  pulling  the  rope  there 
was  no  answering  peal.  He  ascended  the  belfry, 
to  unmuzzle  the  clapper,  but  there  was  no  clap- 
per, and  no  bell.  He  then  went  and  reported  the 
fact  to  the  professor  that  day  in  charge,  by 
whom  he  was  ordered  to  return  to  the  chapel, 
and  prepare  it  for  religious  service  at  the  usual 
hour. 

Back  he  came,  but  only  for  a  moment.  He 
was  a  negro,  fully  imbued  with  the  superstitions 
of  his  race.  On  opening  the  chapel  door,  the 
first  thing  that  greeted  his  eyes  was  a  large 
road-wagon,  wheels,  body,  canvas  top,  and  all, 
blocking  up  the  central  aisle.  How  that  im- 
mense wagon  could  have  been  made  to  pass 
through  that  comparatively  small  door,  was  to 
his  mind  as  inexplicable  as  to  most  people  is  the 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME* 


97 


question  how  a  large  egg,  or  cucumber,  or  a 
frame-work  of  wood,  can  be  introduced  into  a 
small-mouthed,  vial  of  glass.  He  looked  a  mo- 
ment, and,  convinced  that  there  was  witchcraft 
in  it,  he  hurried  back  in  terror  to  report  again 
to  the  officer  of  the  day. 

The  order  he  now  received  was  to  obtain  the 
help  of  other  negroes,  and  remove  the  wagon 
piecemeal,  as  no  doubt  it  had  been  introduced — ■ 
then  to  prepare  the  room  for  service.  Poor 
fellow !  he  did  so,  but  with  great  misgiving,  for 
the  work  was  every  now  and  then  interrupted 
by  a  mysterious  thump  !  (no  one  could  tell  from 
what  part  of  the  building,)  accompanied  at  times 
with  a  dismal,  deep-drawn  sigh.  The  work  was 
hurriedly  executed,  and,  before  it  was  finished, 
the  sexton  came  to  the  officer  with  a  pale  face 
to  say  that  he  was  sick,  and  that  he  begged  to 
be  excused  from  duty  for  the  rest  of  the  day. 

It  was  at  this  stage  of  affairs  that  the  con- 
gregation met  in  the  chapel.  The  citizens,  male 
and  female,  were  gradually  seating  themselves 
on  the  first  floor,  and  we  of  the  college  and 
grammar-school  took  our  places  in  the  gallery, 

VOL.  II. — G 


98 


nacoochee;  or, 


having  had  our  number  of  occupants  consider- 
ably increased  by  the  addition  of  ten-or  a  dozen 
Creek  Indians  under  Chola-fixico,  on  one  side, 
and  about  the  same  number,  under  a  new  per- 
son with  a  bandaged  head,  whom  I  recognized 
as  Kaneeka,  on  the  other. 

While  we  were  assembling,  the  venerable 
president  of  the  college  came  in  to  conduct 
the  service.  He  was  a  low-set  man,  with  broad 
shoulders  and  big,  bald  head.  He  walked  with 
solemn  step  along  the  aisle,  ascended  the  wide 
rostrum,  opened  the  pulpit  door,  and  started 
back  in  surprise.  Indeed,  we  started  too ;  for, 
no  sooner  had  the  pulpit  door  been  opened  than 
there  issued  from  within  the  loud  and  distressed 
bleat  of  a  calf,  that  lay,  tied  hard  and  fast,  upon 
the  floor. 

The  congregation  were  very  indignant  at  this 
outrage  upon  the  sanctity  of  the  intended  place 
of  worship  ;  and  it  was  observed  that  the  Indians 
in  attendance  were  as  quick  as  any  others  to 
comprehend  and  to  condemn  it.  Their  faces 
indicated  an  actual  horror. 

After  the  pulpit  had  been  relieved  from  its 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


99 


encumbrance,  and  the  congregation  composed, 
the  preacher  rose  and  said  : 

"  No  doubt  the  perpetrators  of  this  outrage 
are  present.  They  would  not  stay  away,  for 
fear  of  exciting  suspicion.  For  my  own  part, 
as  an  individual,  I  can  freely  say,  '  Father,  for- 
give them  !  they  know  not  what  they  do  ; '  and 
I  trust  that  every  worshipper  present  will  en- 
deavor to  say  the  same.  Let  us  leave  them  now 
in  the  hands  of  that  God  against  whom  chiefly 
they  have  sinned." 

This  was  the  only  direct  allusion  made  that 
day  to  the  act,  but  the  spirit  of  every  hymn  and 
prayer,  and  the  whole  tone  of  the  service,  must 
have  been  felt  by  the  guilty  parties  as  a  scathing 
rebuke. 

To  conclude  the  history  of  this  incident,  it 
may  be  well  to  say  that,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
days,  the  actors  were  all  discovered  and  pun- 
ished. The  ringleader  never  prospered  either 
in  the  things  of  this  world  or  in  those  of  a 
better.    A  few  years  since  he  died  a  drunkard. 

The  next  day  there  appeared  at  a  corner  of 
the   streets,  often  used**for  advertisements,  a 


ioo  nacoochee;  or, 

public  notice  of  singular  character.  There  was 
a  man  in  the  place  of  eccentric  genius,  who  had 
obtained  a  few  lenses  of  suitable  kind,  and  had 
combined  them  into  a  solar  microscope  of  very 
great  power.  Odd  as  he  was,  and  rough,  too, 
sometimes,  there  was  no  one  more  popular  than 
he  with  the  children ;  for  he  was  fond  of  their 
society,  and  enjoyed  a  never- failing  pleasure  in 
seeing  them  happy.  Indeed,  his  microscope 
was  constructed  as  much  for  them  as  for  him- 
self, and  he  had  several  times  treated  them  to 
a  sight  of  the  wonders  it  revealed.  A  solar 
microscope,  as  perhaps  most  of  the  readers  of 
these  pages  know,  is  not  one  through  which  you 
look,  but  one  by  which,  as  in  a  magic  lantern, 
the  magnified  shadow  is  thrown  upon  a  screen 
in  a  darkened  room. 

The  advertisement  spoken  of  was  to  this 
effect : 

"  A  HAIR  AS  BIG  AS  A  CART  -  ROPE ! 

AND 

A  FLEA  AS  BIG  AS  A  HORSE  ! 

"To-morrow,  November  6th,  I  will  exhibit, 
among  other  things,  a  hair  from  a  man's  head 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


IOI 


as  big  as  a  cart-rope,  and  a  flea  as  big  as  a 
horse.  All  persons  are  invited  to  attend,  who 
will  come  with  their  heads  well  combed,  and 
who  have  used  plenty  of  soap  and  water. 

" Hourixom  12  to  I  o'clock,  P.M. 

"  Place,  the  big  room  over  's  store. 

"  Entrance  Fee,  promise  of  good  order. 

"  Monday,  November  6,  1821. 

"Athens,  Ga.  John  Smith." 

This  invitation  was  so  oddly  worded  that 
many  persons  could  not  understand  it,  and 
some  stayed  away  who  would  have  been  glad 
to  come.  Mr.  Smith's  object  was  to  get  the 
Indians  together,  and  to  enjoy  their  wonder, 
while  he  should  exclude  all  who  were  dirty,  as 
some  of  them  seemed  to  be. 

Lorenzo  and  I  happened  to  be  at  the  Uchee 
camp  at  the  time  when  the  invitation  was  an- 
nounced, and  we  were  much  amused  with  the 
excitement  it  produced. 

"  Flea  big  as  a  horse! "  one  exclaimed.  "  Suck 
a  man  dry  as  a  bone  ! " 

"Never  can  tie  him,"  said  another.  "Jump 
over  the  trees." 


102 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  'Fraid  to  go  !  "  said  several. 

The  bearer  of  the  invitation  assured  them, 
however,  that  the  flea  could  not  hurt,  as  it  would 
be  only  a  shadow,  and  then  he  explained  to 
them  the  conditions  —  good  order,  heads  combed, 
and  plentiful  use  of  soap  and  water.  The  good 
order  was  quickly  and  sincerely  promised,  but 
the  other  conditions  caused  no  little  demurring. 

"  Don't  like  soap  !  "  said  one.  "  Soap  dirty 
water  too  much." 

"  Injun  hair  straight.  Don't  need  comb  like 
white  man,"  said  another. 

"Hurt  too  much  to  comb  hair,"  said  another 
still.  "I  comb  mine  once  every  corn -dance, 
(once  a  year,)  and  then  it  almost  kills  me." 

But  the  temptation  to  obtain  a  sight  of  that 
big  flea  prevailed  over  all  difficulties.  Washed 
and  combed  they  came,  and  well  rewarded  they 
seemed  to  be. 

Mr.  Smith  opened  his  exhibition  by  showing 
some  magnified  hairs  from  the  head  of  a  white 
man,  an  Indian,  and  a  negro.  These  hairs  were 
made  to  appear  at  first  no  larger  than  a  small 
straw,  but  were  gradually  increased  in  size  to 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


the  thickness  of  a  man's  thumb.  Then  a  frag- 
ment from  the  plume  of  a  goose-quill  was  simi- 
larly enlarged,  until  it  appeared  to  be  made  up 
of  hundreds  of  plumes,  each  as  long  and  feathery 
as  the  quill  from  which  they  came.  Dust  from 
a  butterfly's  wing,  thin  shavings  of  different 
kinds  of  wood,  and  a  fly's  head  and  snout,  and 
wing  and  feet,  were  successively  presented,  each 
revealing  its  peculiar  wonders.  The  eels  in 
vinegar  wriggled  along  the  canvas  a  full  yard 
in  length ;  and  the  insects  that  propagate  in  the 
dusty  skin  of  dried  figs,  appeared  on  the  sides 
of  the  needle  by  which  they  were  gathered,  like 
great  terrapins  with  six  legs,  though  they  were 
in  reality  so  small  that  each  one  took  six  steps 
to  pass  over  the  point  of  the  needle. 

When  the  promised  flea  was  presented,  it  was 
at  first  shown  a  foot  long,  then  four  feet,  then 
ten  feet,  and  finally  it  was  magnified  to  such 
size  that  while  its  feet  touched  the  floor,  its 
back  rubbed  the  ceiling,  fifteen  feet  above.  It 
was  the  size  of  a  very  large  elephant. 

These  successive  scenes  of  wonder  brought 
forth  shouts  of  admiration  from  us  youngsters, 


104 


NAC00CHEE. 


and  most  expressive  grunts  of  surprise  from  our 
red  neighbors.  But  when  the  flea,  after  being 
brought  to  its  fullest  size,  was  suddenly  followed 
by  another  creature  equally  large  but  still  more 
hideous,  which  Mr.  Smith  said  he  exhibited  for 
the  special  benefit  of  those  who  did  not  love  to 
comb  their  heads,  the  company  rose  up  and  fled 
from  the  room.  There  were  exclamations  of 
horror,  in  which  I  thought  I  distinguished  the 
guttural  tones  of  the  Uchees;  and  I  am  inclined 
to  think,  from  their  improved  appearance  after- 
ward, that  some  of  them  were  persuaded  to  try 
and  comb  their  heads  oftener  than  once  a  year. 


CHAPTER  X. 


SALOQUAH  —  SAWNEE'S  MISFORTUNES  KANEEKA's 

EXPERIENCE  CHEROKEE    CAMP  CHESCOO   

SALLICOO  ANOTHER  CONFERENCE. 

HAT  same  evening,  after  the  scenes  of 
the  microscope,  we  intended,  as  soon 
as  dismissed  from  school,  to  make  a 
visit  to  the  Cherokee  camp,  in  search  of  Ka- 
neeka ;  but  ere  the  time  came  we  were  gladdened 
by  the  arrival  of  my  father.  He  came  to  attend 
the  public  examination  of  our  grammar-school 
that  week,  and  to  take  us  home  for  our  winter 
vacation. 

He  was  highly  amused  with  the  account  we 
gave  of  the  microscope  and  its  effect  on  the 
Indians.  As  for  the  ball -play,  he  expressed 
great  regret  at  having  missed  it,  and  said  he 
would  gladly  have  added  another  day  to  his 

105 


io6 


nacoochee;  or, 


visit,  and  even  to  have  travelled  out  of  his  way, 
to  witness  it. 

"  I  must  see  Kaneeka,"  he  said,  soon  after 
hearing  the  name  mentioned,  and,  calling  for 
a  servant,  he  despatched  him  without  delay  to 
the  Cherokee  camp,  with  a  request  that  both 
he  and  his  brother  should  come  to  see  him 
at  his  room.  They  arrived  the  next  morning 
while  we  were  at  breakfast,  and  we  had  thus 
the  opportunity  of  meeting  the  distinguished 
young  ball -player,  as  well  as  our  old-time 
friend. 

Saloquah  was  very  modest,  almost  diffident. 
Indian-like,  his  eyes  at  first  were  kept  persist- 
ently cast  down,  except  at  moments,  when  he 
furtively  raised  them  and  took  a  hasty  survey 
first  of  one  part  of  the  room,  then  of  another, 
and  quickly  cast  them  down  again ;  and  all  his 
responses  to  our  offers  of  acquaintance  and  our 
inquiries  were  slowly  and  cautiously  made.  His 
command  of  the  English  language  was  very 
good  —  somewhat  broken,  it  is  true,  from  the 
habit  of  speaking  with  others  whose  acquaint- 
ance with  it  was  imperfect,  but  we  found  after  a 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


107 


while  that  he  was  able  not  only  to  read,  but  to 
write  it. 

Kaneeka's  English  was  still  imperfect,  but  far 
more  fluent  than  it  was  three  years  before.  He 
kept  up  with  my  father  an  animated  conversa- 
tion, of  which  we  heard  a  large  portion  during 
the  pauses  of  our  talk  with  Saloquah.  Among 
other  things,  he  reported  much  distress  prevail- 
ing among  his  people  in  consequence  of  the 
severe  drought  the  preceding  summer,  which 
had  not  only  destroyed  their  little  crops  of  corn 
and  beans,  but  had  also  cut  short  the  usual  pro- 
duct of  the  woods.  He  said  that  our  old  friend 
Sawnee  had  been  especially  unfortunate.  His 
ten-acre  field  had  scarcely  yielded  a  bushel  of 
corn  to  the  acre ;  his  colts  had  died  of  dis- 
temper ;  one-half  his  horses  had  been  carried 
off  by  marauders,  and  he  had  lost  his  two 
youngest  wives,  though  he  had  in  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks  supplied  their  places  with 
others. 

As  for  himself,  Kaneeka  said  he  had  been 
trying,  ever  since  our  visit  to  his  country,  to 
live  in  a  white  man's  way;  that  he  had  planted 


108  nacoochee;  or, 

largely  and  worked  hard,  and  been  rewarded 
with  plenty.  For  the  past  two  years  he  had  not 
only  been  growing  rich,  but  he  had  been  able 
to  send  his  little  brother  Saloquah  to  the 
Mission  School  at  Coosa-nun-o-huh,  where 
there  were  now  more  than  two  hundred  pupils, 
and  where  he  seemed  to  be  making  rapid  pro- 
gress in  learning,  and  in  everything  else  that  is 
good. 

Then  turning  to  my  father,  he  said,  with  evi- 
dent emotion : 

4<  I  never  forget  what  you  tell  me  about  the 
good  Lord.  I  try  hard  to  know  Him.  Think  I 
know  Him  now.  Think  He  know  me,  too. 
And  my  wife  heart  like  my  heart;  we  both 
pray,  both  love  God,  both  try  to  do  right." 

Just  at  this  point,  Lorenzo  and  I  persuaded 
Saloquah  to  go  with  us  into  the  yard,  where  we 
remained  until  school-time,  amusing  ourselves 
and  him  with  our  games  of  marbles  and  tops. 
The  first  of  these  he  seemed  to  hold  in  light 
esteem. 

"  Don't  move  about  enough,"  he  said ;  by 
which  I  understood  him  to  mean  that  the  game 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


IO9 


did  not  call  for  sufficient  exercise.  With  all  his 
disesteem  of  it,  he  nevertheless  shot  a  good 
marble,  and  he  could,  no  doubt,  have  played  a 
fair  game  with  most  white  boys.  In  throwing 
the  top  he  was  very  expert,  holding  a  better 
hand  than  either  Lorenzo  or  myself.  He  said 
he  had  never  owned  one,  though  there  had  been 
several  brought  to  the  school  at  Coosa-nun-o- 
huh  by  boys  who  freely  lent  them,  and  who 
taught  the  others  the  art  of  spinning  them.  I 
therefore  gave  him  mine,  which  was  an  uncom- 
monly good  one,  made  of  lignum  vitce ;  and 
from  that  moment  our  friendship  commenced. 
Not  many  minutes  passed,  after  he  began  to 
feel  at  ease  in  our  company,  before  he  gave  evi- 
dence that  he  had  no  less  aptitude  for  our 
sports  than  for  the  arts  and  games  of  wilder 
life.  And  I  may  here  say,  that  in  all  my  deal- 
ings with  Indians,  I  never  met  with  one  who  so 
fully  combined  in  himself  the  peculiarities  both 
of  the  white  man  and  the  red.  We  took  a  few 
turns  with  tops,  then  sat  down  and  talked  over 
our  several  experiences  in  school  -  life.  Our 
interest  in  him  steadily  increased.    He  had  a 


no 


nacoochee;  or, 


good  natural  mind,  was  rapidly  increasing  in 
book -knowledge,  and  was  evidently  far  from 
being  a  heathen,  either  in  faith  or  practice. 

This  must  suffice  for  the  present  concerning 
Saloquah.  The  conversation  between  Kaneeka 
and  my  father,  on  serious  subjects,  was  con- 
tinued, as  we  had  reason  to  know,  long  after  we 
boys  went  into  the  yard.  The  following  account, 
in  Kaneeka's  own  words,  as  repeated  by  my 
father  many  years  afterward,  is  so  oddly  con- 
ceived, and  so  peculiarly  worded,  that  I  give  it 
at  the  risk  of  appearing  grave,  confident  that 
the  story  of  a  sincere  conversion  from  heathen- 
ism to  Christianity  can  do  no  harm,  and  that  it 
may  instruct  while  it  amuses. 

"  One  day,  after  I  work  in  my  field,"  said 
Kaneeka,  in  his  artless,  broken  English,  "  I  go 
on  my  way  home.  Something  make  me  look 
up  into  the  sky.  All  bright,  all  blue  there ;  no 
cloud,  no  smoke.  Sky  look  so  happy  I  remem- 
ber what  I  hear  people  say,  *  Good  Lord  live  up 
there.' 

"  Then  I  ask  myself  why  I  no  love  Him ; 
why  I  no  serve  Him ;  why  I  no  pray  to  Him. 


BOY- LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


Ill 


Can't  answer.  Begin  to  feel  bad.  Think  I 
ought  to  pray.  Come  to  where  bush  thick, 
kneel  down  and  say,  '  O  Lord,  hear  me  ! '  No- 
body answer.  Say  again,  'O  Lord,  hear  me 
pray ! '  Nobody  answer.  I  get  up ;  walk  a 
little  farther ;  kneel  down  at  another  bush,  and 
say: 

"  '  O  Lord,  hear  me  pray  !  I  not  bad  man  — 
don't  lie,  don't  steal,  don't  get  drunk,  don't 
quarrel.   I  good  man.    Hear  me  pray,  O  Lord!' 

"  But  nobody  answer  yet.    Then  I  say  : 

"  '  Lord,  I  never  ask  anything  before.  I  never 
going  to  ask  much.  Don't  ask  much  now.  I 
good  man.  I  want  to  be  much  good.  Want  to 
serve  Lord  much.    Hear  me,  O  Lord  ! ' 

"  But  nobody  answer.  So  I  get  up,  and  walk 
about,  and  think,  (  Is  anybody  here?'  And  I 
say  to  myself,  '  Can't  see  anybody,  can't  hear 
anybody,  can't  feel  anybody.  Then  nobody  here. 
I  fool  to  pray.    I  no  more  try.' 

"  I  get  up  from  kneel.  I  no  more  pray  for 
long  time — no  more  try.  But  heart  never 
easy. 

"After  long  time,  go   to  Coosa-nun-o-huh. 


112 


NACOOCHEE ;  OR, 


Big  meeting  there,  plenty  people ;  plenty  preach. 
Hear  preacher  talk  about  sinners.  Say  to  my- 
self, '  I  don't  care  for  that.  I  no  sinner.  I  good.' 
Hear  preacher  talk  about  Jesus  Christ.  Say  to 
myself,  '  Don't  care  for  Jesus  Christ.  Only  care 
to  pray.' 

"  Preacher  read  the  Commandments  —  one, 
two,  three,  four,  five  —  and  I  say  to  each  one, 
*  Good,  very  good  ;  Injin  never  curse,  Injin  have 
no  other  God,  Injin  always  honor  father  and 
mother.  I  not  guilty  ;  I  good.'  Then  preacher 
read  the  commandment,  'Shall  not  kill,'  and  I 
say  to  myself,  '  Good,  too  ;  I  never  kill  anybody.' 
But  preacher  say,  '  Hand  may  do  right  when 
heart  do  wrong.  God  a  Spirit ;  God  look  right 
at  your  heart.  You,  Injin,  look  at  your  hand 
and  say  '  I  never  kill.'  But  God  say,  '  Look  at 
your  heart  and  see.  Never  kill  anybody  there  ? 
Never  hate  anybody?  Never  wish  anybody 
dead?' 

"  Preacher  talk  much,  many  words,  but  I 
never  hear  any  more.  My  heart  trouble.  I 
think  how  many  people  I  hate,  how  many  I 
wish  dead  —  how  many  I  kill  in  here,"  putting 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


113 


his  hand  on  his  breast,  "I  feel  so  bad,  I  think  / 
kill  tex  men  before  breakfast. 

"My  heart  trouble  now  —  no  rest,  no  sleep. 
Feel  guilty  all  the  time  —  can't  help  feel  guilty. 
Don't  dare  come  to  Lord  any  more  to  say,  '  I 
good ; '  only  dare  come  say,  1  Have  mercy  on 
poor  sinner ! ' 

"  One  day  I  hear  teacher  read  in  the  Bible 
about  Jesus  Christ.  I  hear  the  words,  'Jesus 
Christ  come  into  world  to  save  sinners  —  the 
chief.'  I  beg  him  read  that  again;  beg  him  tell 
me  what  it  mean.  Then  I  say  to  myself,  'That 
mean  me  —  me,  Kaneeka,  that  kill  so  many 
people  in  my  heart.'  I  begin  to  be  happy.  I 
think  all  the  people  I  ever  kill  come  to  life  again, 
and  all  the  sin  I  ever  do,  dead  and  buried  in  the 
ground." 

While  this  conversation  between  my  father 
and  Kaneeka  was  going  on  in  the  house,  and 
while  we  boys  were  enjoying  ourselves  in  the 
yard,  the  bell  rang  for  school.  We  and  our  red 
friends  separated  with  the  understanding  that 
neither  party  should  leave  the  place  till  we  had 
seen  one  another  again. 

VOL.  It.  —  H 


114 


NACOOCHEE ;  OR, 


That  evening,  after  school,  my  father,  Lorenzo, 
and  I  went  to  the  camp.  It  was  in  a  pretty  little 
grove  of  mixed  oak,  hickory,  and  pine.  There 
were  four  lodges,  of  which  one  was  a  tent  of 
deerskins  stretched  on  poles  —  this  was  Kanee- 
ka's ;  the  others  were  made  of  bark,  stripped  in 
long  pieces  from  the  trees,  flattened,  and, bound 
together  on  suitable  frames,  so  as  to  exclude 
both  rain  and  wind. 

Kaneeka's  wife  was  a  respectable  and  very 
intelligent  -  looking  woman,  rather  lighter  in 
complexion  than  himself,  and  modestly  attired 
in  the  ordinary  garb  of  civilized  life.  Within 
and  around  their  tent  everything  had  an  air  of 
neatness  and  comfort,  and  (what  was  by  no 
means  universal,  even  among  the  most  highly 
improved  of  the  nation)  of  cleanliness,  too.  The 
few  articles  about  her  were  all  tidy  and  in  place. 
Even  the  dirt  floor,  perfectly  levelled,  made 
smooth,  and  covered  with  a  carpet  of  deerskins 
lying  hair-side  up,  produced  a  pleasant  impres- 
sion;  and  so  did  a  bright -eyed,  chubby  child 
that  was  creeping  on  the  floor,  tastefully  dressed, 
partly  in  fringed  deerskin  and  partly  in  calico. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


"This  my  wife,"  said  he,  introducing  us  to 
his  pleasant  -  faced  companion.  "  Her  name 
Chescoo  (bird),  Chescoo-teleneh  (yellow-bird)." 

"  And  what  is  the  name  of  this  bright  little 
one  on  the  floor  ?  "  asked  my  father,  as  he  shook 
hands  with  the  mother. 

"Her  name  Cona - teela,"  *  she  answered; 
"but  Kaneeka  call  her  Sallicoo  f  now,  because 
she  creep  on  floor  like  a  turtle." 

"  You  must  feel  proud  of  this  fine  little  girl," 
said  my  father,  really  admiring  the  child,  and 
noticing  the  pleasure  with  which  they  observed 
his  looks.    "  Is  she  your  only  child?" 

"  Two  more  at  home,"  she  replied.  "  My  boy 
so  high,"  —  holding  her  hand  so  as  to  measure 
the  height  of  a  child  six  years  old. 

As  she  spoke,  the  little  one  on  the  floor  raised 
its  head  to  her,  and  said: 

"  Ma ! " 

"Ah!  I  see  you  are  teaching  her  to  speak 
English,"  my  father  said. 

"  Teach  them  all  so,"  she  answered.  "Have 
to  learn  it." 

*  Rising  fawn. 

f  Sullicookee,  turtle. 


n6 


nacoochee;  or, 


"I  suppose  they  will  have  to  learn  it  in  time," 
continued  my  father.  "  But  be  sure  you  teach 
them  Cherokee,  too.  Yours  is  a  much  softer 
language  than  ours,  and  they  ought  not  to 
neglect  it." 

"  Learn  both,  yes,"  she  said,  assenting. 

The  Cherokees  occupying  the  other  lodges 
all  seemed  to  be  of  the  better  class.  They  had 
come  with  Kaneeka  to  engage  in  the  ball-play  ; 
yet  all  brought  with  them  something  to  sell  — 
moccasins,  cane  baskets,  bows  and  arrows, 
chestnuts,  dried  persimmons,*  etc.  My  father 
bought  a  little  from  each  ;  made  Lorenzo  and 
myself  a  present  of  beaded  moccasins,  light 
bows  with  a  dozen  arrows  apiece,  and  as  many 
chestnuts  as  we  could  pocket,  besides  purchasing 
a  nest  of  beautiful  cane  baskets,  the  inner  cavity 
of  which  he  filled  with  chestnuts  and  dried 
persimmon  rolls,  as  a  present  for  the  folks  at 
home. 

On  our  way  back  from  the  visit,  he  expressed 

*  Freed  from  the  seeds  and  thoroughly  sundried,  these 
were  almost  as  well  tasted  as  Barbary  dates.  The  dried 
layers  rolled  into  sticks  or  cylinders,  like  peach  paste,  keep 
from  season  to  season. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


117 


himself  as  agreeably  surprised  with  the  sobriety 
and  good  order  of  the  Cherokee  camp,  and 
especially  gratified  with  the  tidiness  and  high 
moral  tone  of  everything  about  Kaneeka.  This 
improvement  he  could  not  but  attribute  in  part 
to  the  impulse  given  by  his  own  visit  three  years 
before,  and  more  especially  to  the  influence  of 
those  missions  and  mission-schools  which  began 
about  that  time  to  be  established  in  various 
parts  of  the  nation  by  different  denominations 
of  Christians. 

There  was  another  conference  between  him 
and  Kaneeka  before  leaving  for  home,  the  prin- 
cipal subject  of  which  was  Saloquah.  The  elder 
brother,  who  had  assumed  the  expense  of  his 
education,  and  who  seemed  to  entertain  high 
hopes  of  his  future  eminence  and  usefulness,  and 
to  feel  very  deeply  the  responsibility  assumed, 
expressed  the  wish  that  Saloquah  might  be 
placed  in  some  situation  where  he  could,  for  a 
time,  associate  mainly  with  well-educated  and 
well-disposed  white  boys  of  his  own  age.  He  said 
he  thought  that,  however  good  the  school  at 
Coosa-nun-o-huh  might  be,  with  its  excellent 


u8 


NACOOCHEE. 


teachers,  and  its  large  proportion  of  the  chil- 
dren of  chiefs,  nevertheless  one  year  of  associa- 
tion such  as  he  proposed,  would  do  his  brother 
more  good,  at  that  period  of  life,  than  five  years 
at  the  school. 

This  suggestion  made  my  father  stop  and 
ponder.  He  approved  its  wisdom,  he  wished 
to  see  it  executed,  yet  how  to  do  so  was  a 
question. 

"  How  often  do  the  teachers  at  Coosa-nun-o- 
huh  receive  letters  ? "  he  inquired,  after  a  few 
moments'  reflection. 

"  Once  every  moon,"  answered  Kaneeka. 

"  And  how  long  after  a  message  comes  to 
them  before  it  can  get  to  you  ?  "  he  inquired 
again. 

"After  one  preach-day,"  Kaneeka  answered. 

"  I  will  write  to  you,"  said  my  father.  "  Look 
out  for  a  letter  at  Coosa-nun-o-huh,  to  you  or  to 
Saloquah,  care  of  the  teachers." 


CHAPTER  XL 


LETTERS  FROM  LIVERPOOL  UNEXPECTED  CHANGES 

 PLAN  FOR  THE  SUMMER  ANOTHER  UNEX- 
PECTED CHANGE — OUR  TRAVELLING  EQUIPAGE 
 FIRST  DAY  AND  NIGHT  FROM  HOME. 

ICARCELY  had  we  exchanged  greeting, 
at  home,  after  our  joyful  return  from 
school,  ere  my  mother  brought  a  pack- 
age from  the  mantelpiece,  and,  looking  at  my 
father  and  Lorenzo,  said  : 
"  Letters  from  Liverpool." 
They  were  both  from  Lorenzo's  mother,  and 
announced  the  intelligence,  as  welcome  as  it 
was  unexpected,  that  she  hoped  soon  to  follow 
with  her  whole  family.  She  said  that  every  fibre 
of  her  heart  yearned  after  her  absent  boy,  and 
she  could  endure  a  separation  from  him  no 

longer,  that  her  health   had  failed,  and  her 

119 


120  nacoochee;  or, 

physician  had  recommended  her  sojourn  for  a 
year  or  two  in  the  Southern  States  of  America, 
near  the  mountains — that  in  consequence  of  a 
legacy  left  her  by  a  distant  relative,  she  was  no 
longer  poor,  but  able  to  live  and  travel  at  will, 
and  that  it  was  her  will  to  come  to  America,  to 
seek  health,  to  see  her  son,  to  enjoy  the  society 
of  her  dear  brother  and  his  family,  and  to  be- 
come personally  acquainted  with  the  scenes  and 
circumstances  of  the  new  world.  She  ended 
with  a  request  that  her  brother  would  obtain 
accommodation  for  her  and  her  children  in 
some  pleasant  family,  as  near  as  convenient  to 
his  own,  and  said  that  she  would  leave,  if  pos- 
sible, by  the  first  good  packet  after  the  departure 
of  these  letters. 

In  those  days  there  were  no  railroads  any- 
where on  earth,  no  electric  telegraphs,  no  lines  of 
ocean  steamers.  Postal  communication  was  very 
slow  and  uncertain.  It  was  not  at  all  unusual 
for  people,  on  their  visits  North  or  South,  to 
mail  a  letter  overland  a  week  before  returning ; 
yet  to  take  passage  by  sea,  and  reach  home 
before  it.     My  aunt's  letters  were  postmarked 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


121 


respectively  September  ist  and  15th,  yet  both 
reached  us  by  the  same  mail.  It  was  possible 
that  she  and  her  children  might  arrive  by  the 
very  next  mail  -  coach.  My  father,  therefore, 
wrote  to  mercantile  friends,  both  in  Charleston 
and  Savannah,  requesting  them  to  look  out  for 
her,  to  assure  her  of  the  pleasure  with  which 
her  coming  was  anticipated,  and  to  afford  her 
every  facility  for  safety  and  despatch. 

About  ten  days  afterwards,  Lorenzo's  quick 
ears  caught  the  rumble  of  heavy  wheels  pass- 
ing rapidly  between  our  house  and  the  stage- 
road.  The  bass  notes  of  this  distant  rumble 
soon  began  to  be  enlivened  with  the  bugle- 
like tenor  of  the  stage-horn — the  coach  lum- 
bered into  sight,  handkerchiefs  waved,  and  a 
few  moments  afterward  there  was  a  very  hap- 
py meeting,  the  particulars  of  which  need  no 
description. 

This  was  before  the  close  of  November.  A 
fortnight  from  that  time,  the  following  letter 
was  written  and  despatched,  which,  being  the 
-  first  ever  received  by  the  party  addressed,  was 
carefully  preserved,  and  was  finally  placed  in 


122 


nacoochee;  or, 


my  hands  many  years  afterward  as  a  memento 
of  old  times : 

Tranquilla,  Ga.,  December  12,  1 82 1. 

My  good  friend  Kaneeka : 

If  you  can  fulfil  the  promise  of  last  fall,  I  shall 
probably  need  your  services  and  Saloquah's 
this  coming  summer.  My  sister  from  across  the 
water,  the  mother  of  my  nephew  Lorenzo,  has 
come  to  me  in  poor  health,  and  wishes  to  spend 
the  next  summer  in  the  mountains. 

My  plan  is  to  travel  with  her  myself  for  a 
week  or  two  in  visiting  Talulah,  Tuccoa,  and 
other  wild  scenes  in  upper  Georgia;  then,  if 
convenient,  to  leave  her  and  the  two  boys  under 
your  care,  to  spend  the  heat  of  summer  at  your 
mountain-home,  or  in  some  house  near  you,  fit- 
ted up  for  the  purpose  at  my  expense. 

Your  services,  and  Saloquah's,  in  piloting, 
guarding  and  providing,  will  be  needed,  and  I 
will  freely  pay  you  any  reasonable  salary. 

Please  reply  at  your  earliest  convenience,  in- 
forming me  whether  you  can  comply  with  my 
desires.  I  shall  wish  you  and  Saloquah  to  meet 
me  in  Athens  on  Wednesday,  June  5th,  each 
furnished  with  a  pony  and  gun,  and  equipped 
for  several  weeks'  travel. 

For  greater  certainty  address  your  letter  to 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


123 


me  at  Athens,  Georgia,  where  it  can  be  obtained 
and  brought  me  by  my  children,  who  will  be 
then  at  school  there. 

Yours  truly, 

John  Woodruff. 

P.  S.  —  Remember  me  kindly  to  Chescoo,  and 
Saloquah,  and  to  little  Sallicoo  —  if  she  can 
remember  anything  of  us. 

The  letter  was  addressed  : 
"  To  Ka-nee-ka,  a  Cherokee  sub-chief ;  or 
"  To  Sa-lo-quah,  his  brother, 
"  Care  of  the 

"  Teachers  of  Mission  School, 

"  Creek-path,  Cherokee  Nation." 

It  had  been  gone  on  its  errand  some  six  or 
seven  weeks,  when,  about  the  1st  of  February, 
while  Lorenzo  and  I  were  at  school,  the  post- 
master informed  us  that  a  letter  to  my  father 
had  come  from  some  one  in  the  Cherokee 
Nation.  We  immediately  asked  leave  of  ab- 
sence from  school  for  the  purpose  of  bearing  it 
home.  It  was  written  by  Saloquah,  in  the  name 
of  his  brother,  complying  with  what  had  been 
•  proposed,  and  promising  to  meet  us  at  the  time 
and  place  appointed. 


124 


NACOOCHEE ;  OR, 


The  approach  of  June,  with  its  prospect  of 
varied  and  exciting  pleasures,  animated  our  talk 
by  day  and  our  dreams  by  night.  We  did  not 
slacken  study,  for  the  promise -of  our  going  was 
conditioned  upon  our  having  made  certain  pro- 
gress ;  and  indeed  we  had  by  this  time  acquired 
such  a  degree  of  mental  training,  under  care  of 
experienced  teachers,  that  study  was  beginning 
to  be  no  longer  a  drudgery,  but  a  pleasure. 

We  were  now  just  turned  twelve  years  of  age  — 
too  young  to  be  intrusted  to  ourselves  in  a  wild 
country  among  half-wild  people,  but  old  enough 
to  anticipate  with  much  eagerness  the  freedom 
of  forest  and  mountain,  under  the  control  of 
older  heads. 

On  Wednesday,  May  29th,  my  father  came  to 
Athens  to  learn  from  our  teachers  what  progress 
we  had  made  in  study.  He  was  proud  to  be 
informed  that  we  had  faithfully  completed  the 
course  prescribed  for  the  Grammar  School,  and 
had  so  far  exceeded  it  that  we  could  enter  the 
first  class  of  College  half  advanced.  Our  reward 
had  been  fairly  earned,  and  my  father  acknowl- 
edged it  by  directing  us  to  pack  up  our  books 
and  clothing,  and  prepare  for  returning  home. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


125 


How  little  we  know  what  a  day  may  bring 
forth,  or  an  hour,  or  a  minute  !  It  was  while  we 
were  engaged  in  these  duties,  preparatory  to  our 
return  home,  that  an  incident  occurred  which 
for  years  affected,  seriously,  though  very  pleas- 
antly, the  complexion  of  our  history. 

In  the  piazza  of  the  principal  hotel  of  the 
place  sat  a  young  man  of  attractive  appearance, 
whose  pale  face  contrasted  strangely  with  his 
dark  eyes  and  coal-black  hair.  We  saw  by  his 
baggage,  just  removed  from  the  stage-coach,  but 
not  yet  carried  into  the  house,  that  he  was  a 
stranger,  a  traveller  from  afar,  and  that  his  name 
was  Mitchel.  As  we  passed  him,  going  into  the 
hotel,  we  observed  him  lay  down  a  book  he  was 
reading,  and  watch  us  intently.  Passing  him  a 
second  time  on  our  way  out,  he  called  to  us,  and 
said,  in  a  somewhat  foreign  accent : 

"  Excuse  me,  boys ;  but  you  make  me  think 
of  my  far-off  home,  across  the  water.  Are  you 
brothers  ?  " 

"  We  call  each  other  so,  but  we  are  cousins," 
was  the  reply. 

"Allow  me  to  ask  your  names.''' 


126 


nacoochee;  or, 


'  John  and  Lorenzo  Woodruff." 

"  I  thought  so,"  said  he.  "  One  of  you  is  the 
son  probably  of  John  Woodruff,  who  lives  with- 
in a  day's  ride  of  this  place ;  and  the  other  is 
the  son,  I  suppose,  of  James  Woodruff,  who 
perished  from  a  hurt  received  in  Liverpool  a  few 
years  since." 

We  replied  that  he  was  right. 

"  Well,  boys,"  he  continued,  extending  his 
hands  to  us  with  a  bright  smile,  "  I  think  we 
are  destined  to  become  better  acquainted.  My 
name  is  Mitchel  —  Alexander  Mitchel.  My 
mother  was  the  aunt  of  John  and  James  Wood- 
ruff, and,  of  course,  I  am  full  cousin  to  John, 
and  second  cousin  to  yourselves.  Where  is  my 
cousin  John  to  be  found  ?  " 

"  Here  in  this  place,  ready  to  return  home  to- 
day," I  replied. 

"That  is  indeed  good  news,"  he  said,  as  his 
eye  gleamed  with  an  expression  of  delight. 
"  Please  say  to  him  that  there  is  a  cousin  of  his 
at  the  hotel,  who  desires  to  see  him  before  he 
leaves  the  place," 

The  result  of  this  meeting,  all  by  accident, 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


127 


was  that  our  home -bound  company  was  in- 
creased by  the  addition  of  our  new  cousin,  and 
that  for  a  long  time  afterward  we  enjoyed  the 
society  of  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  most 
charming  persons  it  was  ever  my  privilege  to 
meet.  We  called  him  cousin  Aleck,  though  he 
said  we  might  call  him  Alexander,  or  Sanders,  or 
Sandy,  or  Sawnders,  or  Sawny,  just  as  it  pleased 
us.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Scottish  clergyman 
who  had  married  my  father's  aunt.  Two  years 
before,  he  had  graduated  with  distinction  at 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  and  for  one  year 
he  had  been  tutor  in  the  family  of  a  wealthy 
merchant  ;  but  severe  study  had  so  far  under- 
mined his  health  that  he  had  been  advised,  like 
my  aunt,  to  seek  the  fresh  air  of  America,  and 
he  had  come,  bringing  letters  to  my  father. 

No  person  whom  I  had  hitherto  met  possessed 
half  the  knowledge  that  he  seemed  to  have  of 
nature  in  every  department.  There  was  not  a 
bird  or  a  beast,  a  fish  or  an  insect,  a  tree  or  a 
flower,  a  rock  or  a  metal,  that  did  not  seem 
familiar  to  him  either  by  sight  or  by  description. 
He  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  nature ;  and, 


128 


nacoochee;  or, 


on  our  way,  I  heard  him  remark,  after  having 
stopped  the  carriage  several  times  to  examine 
something  by  the  roadside,  that  he  was  thank- 
ful for  the  ill  health  which  had  compelled  him 
to  leave  home  and  come  to  this  country,  where 
all  nature  seemed  to  be  worshipping  God,  in  the 
freshness  and  strength  of  its  youth. 

On  Tuesday  following,  our  travelling  party 
left  home,  intending  to  stop  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Athens,  where  we  would  await  the  arrival 
of  our  Indian  companions.  Our  equipage  was 
nearly  the  same  as  it  had*  been  four  years  before. 
My  father  led  the  way  in  the  carryall,  drawn  by 
old  Gray.  The  close  carriage,  containing  my 
aunt  and  her  waiting -maid,  and  occasionally 
some  other  of  the  company,  followed  under  the 
skilful  postilionship  of  Quash;  and  the  rear 
was  brought  up  by  the  baggage- wagon,  con- 
taining tent,  stores,  cooking  utensils,  etc.,  under 
the  care  of  Scipio,  now  a  young  man  with  half- 
grown  beard  ;  while  Lorenzo  and  I,  on  our 
spirited  Indian  ponies,  scampered  here  and  there 
at  will,  prepared  to  changes  places  at  any  time 
with  my  father  or  with  our  cousin  Aleck,  for 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


129 


whose  use  there  was  an  extra  saddle  kept 
strapped  to  the  back  of  the  carryall.  We  had 
guns,  dogs,  and  fishing -tackle,  as  before;  but 
not  knowing  the  kind  of  fish  to  be  expected 
in  the  mountain  streams,  we  were  compelled  to 
prepare  ourselves  at  random. 

Our  first  encampment  was  a  perfect  novelty 
to  the  new-comers,  neither  of  whom  had  ever 
before  slept  under  a  tent  or  spent  a  night  in  the 
woods.  The  excitement  kept  them  wide  awake 
till  late  in  the  night.  Indeed,  we  all  retired 
with  reluctance,  and  most  of  us  tossed  restlessly 
upon  our  pallets,  and,  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence, awoke  late  and  unrefreshed  the  next 
morning. 

The  next  day,  June  5th,  our  camp  was  ap- 
proached by  two  persons  in  the  deer-skin  garb 
of  the  Indian,  each  furnished  with  a  rifle  and 
its  usual  accoutrements,  and  each  bestriding  a 
stout  pony  carrying  a  wallet.  These  were  our 
expected  friends,  and  our  complement  being 
now  full,  we  set  off  the  same  afternoon  upon 
our  projected  excursion  to  the  mountains  and 
falls  of  Upper  Georgia. 

VOL.  II.  —  I 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE    CHATTAHOOCHEE   RIDGE  ARMAH-OOLAH  

INDIAN    LEGEND— SHOOTING    FROM  HORSE- 


HE  country  through   which  our  route 


lay  was  exceedingly  rough  and  unim- 


proved, and  the  farther  north  we  went 
the  rougher  it  became.  Strange  to  say,  however, 
a  large  proportion  of  our  road  was  remarkably 
level.  We  could  plainly  see,  from  various 
points,  that  to  our  right  and  left  were  sharp 
hills  and  abrupt  valleys,  while  our  travelled 
way  was  seldom  interrupted  even  by  the  tini- 
est streamlet  of  water.  Kaneeka,  to  whom  the 
whole  country  was  familiar,  explained  this  pecu- 
liarity by  simply  saying  :  "  Ridge,  Ridge  road." 

We  were  travelling  on  a  dividing  line,  or  wa- 
ter-shed, separating  the  head- waters  of  streams 


BACK. 


NACOOCHEE. 


flowing  into  the  Atlantic  from  those  flowing  into 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Sometimes  they  rose  but 
a  few  steps  apart. 

After  travelling  some  hours  on  this  ridge, 
without  finding  any  water  for  ourselves  or 
horses,  Kaneeka  announced  our  approach  to 
two  noted  springs,  where  he  advised  us  to  make 
our  midday  stop.  Arriving  at  this  point,  we  dis- 
covered no  marked  peculiarity,  except  that  the 
ridge  was  so  narrow  as  to  be  not  much  wider 
than  our  carriage-track.  There  was  a  spring  of 
water  on  each  side  of  the  road,  flowing  in  oppo- 
site directions,  and  along  the  ravine  of  each 
there  was  an  Indian  trail  that  crossed  our  road. 

"  We  used  to  call  this  place  Armah-oolah," 
said  Kaneeka,  while  we  were  preparing  for 
lunch  at  the  foot  of  an  oak,  and  he  explained  it 
by  the  following  story  : 

One  of  the  braves  of  a  former  generation  saw 
and  loved  the  beautiful  daughter  of  a  chief. 
She  loved  him  in  return,  and  ail  persons  wished 
them  well,  for  they  were  worthy  of  each  other. 
There  was  but  one  obstacle  to  their  union.  It 
was  customary  in  those  days  that  whoever  as- 


132 


nacoochee;  or 


pired  to  the  hand  of  a  chief's  daughter  should 
be  able  to  show  scalps  taken  in  battle.  But  the 
lover  had  just  arrived  at  manhood.  His  people 
had  not  been  called  to  the  war-path  since  he 
was  old  enough  to  wield  the  tomahawk,  and 
though  his  courage  was  proved  by  many  a  feat 
of  prowess  as  a  hunter,  and  by  many  a  scalp  of 
bear  and  wolf,  and  one  even  of  a  panther,  he 
could  show  no  scalps  of  men. 

The  father  of  the  girl  was  a  man  of  few 
words,  and  had  not  yet  expressed  himself  either 
in  favor  of  the  young  people's  wish  or  against 
it.  One  day  he  called  the  young  man  to  him, 
and  said  : 

"  You  want  my  daughter.  You  bring  me  no 
scalps.  This  do  :  Go  find  the  place  in  our  coun- 
try where  the  waters  of  the  Rising  Sun  kiss  the 
waters  of  the  Ever-Summer.  When  you  find, 
you  may  have  my  daughter." 

The  young  man  looked  him  full  in  the  face, 
doubtful  whether  these  words  were  not  intended 
as  a  refusal ;  but  the  chief,  who  was  a  man  of 
few  words,  did  not  explain.    He  only  repeated  : 

"  Before  you  can  have  my  daughter,  you  must 


BOY- LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


133 


find  where,  in  our  country,  the  waters  of  the 
Ever-Summer  kiss  the  waters  of  the  Rising  Sun. 
I  have  said." 

The  young  man  left  his  presence  much  cast 
down.  He  called  for  the  maiden,  seated  him- 
self on  the  ground  before  her,  with  his  head  be- 
tween his  knees,  the  picture  of  despair,  told  her 
that  the  world  was  nothing  to  him  without  her, 
that  her  father  had  demanded  of  him  what 
seemed  to  be  an  impossibility,  but  that  he  was 
resolved  to  go  and  try,  and  that  he  would  never 
return  unless  he  could  come  to  claim  her  as  his 
bride.  She,  too,  was  troubled.  She  thought 
much,  but  her  words  were  few.  Suddenly  a 
bright  thought  flashed  into  her  mind,  and  she 
asked : 

"  Has  the  Rising  Sun  no  water  in  our  coun- 
try ?  Where  are  the  rivers  and  the  springs  ? 
Are  there  no  waters  here,  too,  that  belong  to 
the  Ever-Summer?     Perhaps  they  meet." 

The  young  man's  heart  bounded  with  joy. 
He  leaped  up,  saying : 

"  You  are  my  young  mother.  You  have 
given  me  life  a  second  time." 


134 


nacoochee;  or, 


He  left  her  with  feet  swift  as  a  deer.  He 
traced  the  rivers  to  their  springs,  and  at  last 
came  to  this  narrow  ridge,  from  below  which 
arise  two  springs,  within  a  few  steps  of  each 
other,  one  of  which  belongs  to  the  waters  of  the 
Ever-Summer,  and  the  other  to  the  waters  of 
the  Rising  Sun.  The  chief's  daughter  said  she 
was  willing  to  accept  them  as  Kissing-waters, 
and  the  chief  decided  that  her  words  should 
stand.  From  that  day,  the  young  man  was 
known  by  the  name  of  Armah-Tooway,  (Water- 
hunter,)  and  the  spring  known  as  Armah-oolah. 
The  young  couple  here  built  them  a  home,  where 
for  years  they  drank  from  these  waters  and  lived 
happily  together.  One  of  their  children  is  now 
living,  and  called  by  his  father's  name,  Armah- 
Tooway. 

No  one  of  the  company  enjoyed  the  water  or 
the  romance  more  than  cousin  Aleck,  who  ex- 
acted a  promise  from  Kaneeka  to  recall  and  re- 
late all  stories  associated  with  places  that  we 
might  visit  in  our  journey. 

For  the  past  two  days,  the  chief  business  of 
us  boys  was  to  keep  the  cook  supplied  with 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME.  I  35 

small  game,  in  the  shape  of  squirrels,  doves,  and 
partridges.  Our  plan  was  to  ride  ahead  of  the 
carriages  at  suitable  times  and  places,  and  to 
shoot  from  our  saddles.  For  this  it  was  neces- 
sary that  our  ponies  should  be  well  trained  to 
the  purpose.  My  own  dear  little  Sawnee,  so 
named  from  the  old  chief,  seemed  to  understand 
and  to  like  the  sport  almost  as  well  as  his  young 
master.  Many  a  time  did  he  prick  up  his  ears 
at  a  passing  squirrel,  as  if  to  call  attention  to  it, 
and  whenever  I  was  ready  to  shoot  from  his 
back,  and  would  say  to  him,  "  So,  boy,  so  !  " 
he  would  remain  as  moveless  as  a  stump.  For 
a  boy-hunter's  use,  Sawnee  was  a  treasure. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

KANEEKA  SHOOTS  INTO  THE  BUSHES  IS  IT  RIGHT 

TO    KILL    GAME?  CURRAHEE    AND  CHOPPED 

OAK,  TRADITION  CONCERNING  THEM  THE  FAR- 
MER'S WIFE,  AND  HER  SUNDAY  SHOOTING. 

ATE  in  the  afternoon,  while  travelling 
on  this  ridge,  we  observed  Kaneeka, 
who  was  riding  ahead  of  us  all,  sud- 
denly halt  his  pony,  level  his  rifle,  and  shoot 
into  a  thick  growth  of  kalmias.  A  moment 
after,  three  deer,  with  flaunting  tails,  dashed 
across  our  road  within  fair  shooting  distance, 
and  disappeared  in  a  deep  ravine  on  the  other 
side.  Saloquah's  rifle  was  levelled  also,  though 
he  did  not  shoot.  Our  own  guns  were  not 
thought  of  until  the  deer  had  passed. 

"  What  a  pity,"  I  exclaimed  to  our  two  In- 
dian friends,  who  were  now  both  urging  their 

136 


NACOOCHEE. 


137 


ponies  forward,  as  I  supposed  in  the  vain  hope 
of  getting  a  better  shot ;  "  what  a  pity  you  had 
not  had  a  moment's  warning  ! " 

"  Isn't  one  deer  enough  ?  "  Kaneeka  asked  in 
a  tone  of  surprise.    "  He  big  ;  he  fat." 

I  saw  Saloquah  laugh,  but  could  not  under- 
stand either  his  laugh  or  Kaneeka's  question, 
until  we  entered  the  cover  of  the  kalmias,  where 
lay  a  large  sleek-sided  deer,  vainly  endeavor- 
ing to  stagger  to  his  feet.  The  two  hunters 
leaped  from  their  ponies,  busied  themselves  for 
a  few  moments  with  their  hunting-knives,  and, 
ere  our  slow-moving  carriages  and  our  aston- 
ished dogs  came  up,  that  which  had  so  lately 
been  deer  was  no  longer  deer,  but  venison.  I 
candidly  confess  that,  with  all  my  fondness  for 
hunter's  life,  and  admiration  for  a  quick-telling 
shot,  I  have  never  seen  the  soft  .light  of  a 
deer's  eyes  quenched  in  death  without  a  feel- 
ing akin  to  sorrow. 

How  is  this  ?  Is  it  wrong  to  kill  deer  ?  In 
mere  sport,  certainly ;  but  when  killed  as  cov- 
eted food  — 

Since  beginning  this  inquiry,  a  fly-catcher, 


133 


nacoochee;  or, 


that  now  sits  "  quee  !  quee-ing !  "  on  a  tree  by 
my  door  has  twice,  —  yes,  now  three  times, — 
darted  down,  and  with  audible  snap  of  its  bill 
has  deposited  three  flies  in  its  capacious  craw, 
its  act  has  supplied  my  answer.  The  fly-catch- 
er, with  its  quick  wing  and  snapping  bill,  was 
created  to  live  on  flies.  We  human  beings, 
although  we  can  live  on  vegetables,  are  intended 
by  our  Creator  (as  is  testified,  not  only  by  our 
taste,  but  by  our  canine  teeth  and  our  enamelled 
grinders)  to  live  on  flesh  also.  It  is  not  wrong 
to  live  as  God  intended  us,  and,  therefore,  it  is 
not  wrong  to  kill  deer,  or  turkeys,  or  partridges, 
or  other  wild  game,  to  be  used  as  food,  and 
without  criminal  waste  of  life.  Yet  I  confess  it 
always  makes  me  sad  to  watch  the  ebbing  life 
and  glazing  eye  of  a  deer,  or  even  of  a  dove, 
brought  down  by  hunter's  hand. 

The  place  selected  for  our  encampment  that 
night,  near  the  terminus  of  the  Ridge,  was  at 
the  spring  of  a  farm-house  adjoining  the  road. 
There  was  no  other  watering-place  for  man  or 
beast  under  several  miles.  Within  full  view  was 
a  small  mountain  of  uncommon  beauty,  which 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


139 


rose  suddenly  before  us,  like  a  broad-based  sugar- 
loaf,  a  thousand  feet  high,  and  stood  aloof  from 
the  mountains  in  sight,  as  if  disdaining  com- 
panionship with  others  so  much  rougher  and 
less  graceful  than  itself. 

The  farmer,  beside  whose  spring  we  were 
permitted  to  encamp,  and  with  whom  we  had 
several  conversations,  informed  us  that  the 
mountain  was  called  Currahee,  —  that  it  was  so 
named  after  a  fierce  chief  who  once  lived  at  its 
foot,  and  who  prided  himself  upon  the  devasta- 
tion he  had  wrought  upon  the  whites,  boasting 
that  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  he  had 
dried  in  the  smoke  of  his  cabin  fifteen  scalps  of 
white  men,  women,  and  children,  after  having 
notched  their  number  on  the  "  Chopped  Oak." 

On  being  asked  what  he  meant  by  the 
"  Chopped  Oak,"  he  informed  us  that  it  was  a 
tree  in  his  neighborhood,  marked  with  many 
gashes ;  that  it  was  at  the  meeting-place  of  sev- 
eral trails,  and  that  it  used  to  be  noted  as  the 
council-ground  and  law-place  of  the  natives  for 
that  part  of  the  country,  especially  for  war- 
parties,  before  they  went  out  and  after  they 


140 


nacoochee;  or, 


returned.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  every  gash  on  that  tree 
answers  to  a  scalp,  there  must  have  been  many 
a  one  taken/'  * 

He  told  us,  in  the  same  connection,  that  there 
was  a  man  then  living  in  South  Carolina,  within 
sight  of  the  top  of  Currahee,  who  reported  him- 
self as  the  only  survivor  of  a  whole  family  mur- 
dered by  this  savage  chief.  His  story  was,  that 
being  at  work  in  the  corn-field,  while  sixteen 
years  of  age,  he  heard  the  crack  of  a  rifle,  and 
saw  his  father  drop  dead  ;  then  heard  the  sound 
of  rifles  from  the  house,  on  which  he  hid  him- 
self amid  the  corn,  whence  he  saw  the  smoke  of 
his  burning  home,  and  heard  the  screams  of  the 
helpless  family.  That  night  he  stole  through 
the  woods  to  a  neighbor's,  five  miles  away,  to 
whom  he  related  the  story,  and  who  returned 
with  him  the  next  morning,  attended  by  several 
others.  There  they  found  his  father,  mother, 
brother,  and  two  sisters,  one  of  them  an  infant, 
all  dead  and  scalped,  and  the  house  and  corn- 
crib  smoking  on  the  gronnd.    The  only  living 

*  This  tree  remained  for  many  years  after  the  whites  took 
possession. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


I4I 


creatures  about  the  once  happy  home  were  a 
howling  dog,  and  a  hen  that,  at  the  sight  of 
them,  ran  in  terror  to  hide  herself.  The  bodies 
were  gathered  and  buried  in  one  grave,  and 
from  that  day  forward  that  boy  devoted  himself 
to  the  killing  of  Indians,  which  he  kept  up  so 
long  as  there  were  any  within  reach.  Soon  after 
he  began  his  bloody  revenge,  Currahee  disap- 
peared, and  was  never  more  heard  of.  Whether 
he  changed  his  name,  or  removed  beyond  the 
Father  of  Waters,  or  was  one  of  the  victims  of 
the  boy's  rifle,  no  one  knows.  He  left  his  name 
with  this  mountain. 

WThile  he  was  giving  us  this  account,  our  two 
Indians  had  been  engaged  in  skinning  and  other- 
wise preparing  the  venison  for  use.  We  gave 
a  quarter  of  it  to  the  farmer  in  consideration  of 
various  little  favors  shown.  He  gladly  received 
it,  saying  that  his  wife  had  cooked  the  last  piece 
of  her  venison  that  day. 

"Yes,  her  venison,"  he  repeated,  seeing  we 
looked  surprised,  "and  killed  on  Sunday  2X  that." 

This  statement  caused  both  my  aunt  and 
cousin  to  look  at  my  father,  as  if  asking : 


142 


nacoochee;  or, 


"What!  have  we  come  to  a  heathen  country, 
where  women  hunt  on  Sundays?" 

The  farmer  went  on  to  say : 

"  Last  Sunday,  when  I  was  at  church,  ten 
miles  away,  one  of  the  children  ran  into  the 
house  to  tell  their  mammy  that  there  was  a  big 
deer  in  the  cow  lot,  and  that  they  had  shut  the 
gate  on  it.  She  took  my  rifle  and  ran  down  to 
see.  Sure  enough,  there  it  was  in  the  cow  lot,  a 
doe,  as  big  as  does  ever  get  to  be.  I  can't  think 
why  she  come  there,  except  maybe  to  get  some 
of  the  cow  feed  stowed  away  under  the  shed. 
The  fence  was  twelve  rails  high,  and  ridered  at 
that ;  so  you  may  suppose  my  wife  took  her 
time  a-killing  her  meat.  She  poked  the  rifle 
through  the  cracks  of  the  fence,  rested  it  on  a 
rail,  and  the  next  minute  had  her  venison  lying 
on  the  ground.  When  I  got  home  from  meet- 
ing she  had  a  nice  venison  steak  ready  for  my 
supper." 

The  man  saw  from  our  looks  that  our  sense 
of  propriety  had  been  in  some  way  offended  by 
this  story,  and  he  rightly  conjectured  that  we 
considered  this  profanation  of  the  Sabbath  by  a 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


143 


woman,  —  a  mother,  in  the  midst  of  her  chil- 
dren,— as  being  needless  and  unnatural.  But 
he  spoke  as  if  he  esteemed  it  a  good  joke,  and 
his  only  attempt  at  palliation  was  saying : 

"  She  might  have  taken  her  time  for  killing, 
and  waited  till  Monday,  for  the  deer  could  n't 
git  out ;  but  the  Sunday  law  ain't  over-strong  in 
these  woods,  and  I  think  it  would  be  doubtful 
whether  our  preacher  himself  could  stand  the 
sight  of  a  fat  deer  in  his  cow  lot  without  shoot- 
ing, Sunday  or  no  Sunday." 

My  aunt  and  cousin  Aleck  looked  as  if  they 
were  gaining  impressive  ideas  about  the  rough- 
ness of  a  new  country,  but  they  said  nothing. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


VIEW  FROM  CURRAHEE  "  ERUPTION  "  UNPLEA- 
SANT COMPANIONS,  AND  WHAT  WAS  DONE  WITH 
THEM  TUCCOA   FALLS  THE  SHOWER-BATH. 

EXT  morning,  an  hour's  ride  brought  us 
to  the  foot  of  Currahee  Mountain. 
Halting  our  carriages  and  putting  a 
side-saddle  on  old  Gray  for  my  aunt,  we  were 
not  many  minutes  in  gaining  the  summit,  which 
was  a  bare  flat  rock,  terminating  on  one  side  in 
a  sheer  precipice,  and  covered  here  and  there 
with  thick  beds  of  mountain  moss,  whose  gray 
filaments  in  a  dry  time  crumble  to  powder  under 
the  foot,  but  with  the  slightest  moisture  in  the 
air  furnish  delightful  seats,  soft  as  cushions  of 
velvet. 

There  was  not  one  of  the  company  who  did 

not  acknowledge  that  we  were  more  than  com- 

i44 


NACQOCHEE. 


145 


pensated  for  our  labor  by  the  wide-spread  land- 
scape, which  was  in  many  parts  checkered  with 
farms  that  looked  in  the  distance  no  bigger  than 
handkerchiefs,  —  in  other  parts  rumpled  into 
sharp  hills,  —  in  others,  gleaming  with  the  flash 
of  waters,  —  while  far  to  the  North  and  East  the 
Blue  Ridge  Mountains  lifted  themselves  above 
the  horizon  like  a  rough  bank  of  blue  clouds, 
preparing  to  give  us  a  thunder  -  storm.  We 
greatly  enjoyed  ourselves  for  more  than  an  hour, 
and  finally  took  our  departure,  not  because  we 
were  satiated,  but  driven  away  by  the  increas- 
ing heat  of  the  sun  upon  the  rocky  and  almost 
shadeless  summit. 

Five  miles  of  travel  carried  us  to  the  Tuccoa 
Falls,  near  which  we  found  a  house  of  public 
accommodation.  Major  Walton,  the  owner  and 
occupant,  could  show  so  well-fed  a  person,  and  a 
family  of  wife  and  daughters  so  well  fed,  too, 
as  to  require  no  signboard  advertisement  of 

"  GOOD  CHEER  — TO  BE  HAD  HERE." 

It  was  Saturday,  midday,  when  we  arrived, 
and  my  aunt  expressed  the  desire  to  stop  and 
vol.  n.  —  K 


146  nacoochee;  or, 

spend  the  Sabbath.  But  she  had  a  reason  for 
this  which,  if  not  more  potent  than  a  desire  to 
sanctify  the  Sabbath,  was  more  pressing.  For 
more  than  a  day  she  had  been  conscious  of  a 
very  disagreeable  eruption  which  had  appeared 
upon  her  own  person,  and  of  which  her  maid 
also  complained.  It  was  rapidly  increasing; 
she  was  apprehensive  that  they  were  both  going 
into  a  fever,  and  would  soon  need  medical  treat- 
ment. The  "  eruption  "  appeared  in  the  form  of 
welks,  with  a  minute  spot  of  crimson  in  the  cen- 
tre of  each,  attended  with  intolerable  itching. 
She  described  the  case  to  Mrs.  Walton,  who  no 
sooner  saw  the  ailing  spots  than  her  good-na- 
tured face  became  a  universal  smile,  as  she  said : 

"You  must  be  a  stranger  in  these  parts, 
ma'am,  not  to  know  the  red-bugy 

A  moment  afterward,  being  informed  that  her 
guest  was  just  from  England,  she  continued : 

"  I  see  upon  your  clothes  what  is  almost  as 
bad  as  the  red-bugs." 

My  aunt  was  horrified  to  discover  that  what 
she  had  only  supposed  to  be  brown  dust  upon 
her  clothes  was  all  in  motion. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


147 


"  What  can  it  be  ?"  she  asked. 

"  Seed-ticks,"  replied  Mrs.  Walton.  "  People 
say,"  she  continued,  "  that  when  the  large  tick 
falls  from  the  cow  it  lies  upon  the  ground  until 
it  goes  to  pieces,  and  then  each  piece  becomes 
a  seed-tick.  They  climb  the  nearest  spear  of 
grass  and  hang  together  in  a  little  ball  on  its 
top,  until  some  one  passes  near  enough  for  them 
to  take  hold,  when  they  all  leave  the  grass  to- 
gether, and  spread  over  the  person." 

"Mercy!"  exclaimed  my  aunt  in  terror;  "I 
shall  be  eaten  alive.  Can  you  do  nothing  to 
save  me  ?  " 

"Oh,  yes,"  replied  Mrs.  Walton,  "they  are  „ 
easily  enough  got  rid  of.    You  shall  not  hear 
from  one  of  them  again  after  you  leave  my 
hands." 

Her  first  aim  was  to  relieve  from  the  torment 
of  the  red-bugs.  This  was  effected  by  a  plenti- 
ful ablution  with  soap  and  cold  water  to  "  cool 
the  fire  of  the  bites  ;"  then  the  welks  were  wet- 
ted with  a  strong  alkali  "to  kill  the  poison;" 
and,  finally,  they  were  touched  with  perfumed 
oil,  to   smother  such  intruders   as  were  left, 


148 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  for,"  as  Mrs.  Walton  said,  "  no  live  thing  of 
that  sort  can  stand  grease." 

While  this  work  of  insect-murder  and  of  poi- 
son-cooling was  going  on,  there  was  another  in 
process  in  an  adjoining  room. 

The  garments  infected  with  the  seed -ticks 
were  stretched  over  chairs,  and  were  thoroughly- 
fumigated  with  tobacco-smoke,  produced  by 
putting  the  leaves  on  live  coals  in  a  chafing-dish. 

"  A  few  years  ago,"  said  the  hostess,  "  a  lady 
from  the  seaboard,  an  Englishwoman  like  your- 
self, came  in  from  a  walk  in  the  woods  so  per- 
fectly covered  with  these  insects  that  her  clothes 
were  brown.  I  proposed  to  relieve  her,  as  I  do 
you,  by  the  use  of  tobacco-smoke,  but  she  pre- 
ferred, instead  of  undressing,  to  kill  the  insects, 
or  drive  them  from  her,  by  receiving  the  smoke 
upon  her  clothes  without  taking  them  off.  She 
succeeded,  but  came  near  sharing  the  fate  of 
the  insects,  for  she  was  not  much  more  able 
than  they  to  stand  the  poison  of  the  tobacco- 
smoke."  * 

*  This  unromantic  incident  is  given,  just  as  it  occurred,  in 
hopes  that  it  may  prove  useful  to  visitors  to  that  beautiful 


TUCCOA  FALLS. — P;)ge  140. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


149 


When  we  arrived  at  Major  Walton's,  it  was  a 
little  past  midday.  Leaving  our  distressed  com- 
panions to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  Mrs.  Walton's 
knowledge  and  hospitality,  the  rest  of  us  went 
direct  to  the  Falls,  which  were  only  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  distant. 

There  we  saw  a  little  stream,  about  ten  or 
twelve  feet  wide,  and  about  four  or  five  inches 
deep,  plunging  over  a  precipice  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty-seven  feet.  After  falling  nearly  one- 
fourth  that  distance,  the  water  strikes  a  project- 
ing shelf,  where  it   is   broken,  and  descends 

j 

thence  to  the  bottom  in  beautiful  white  spray. 
At  the  time  of  our  visit,  the  effect  was  greatly 
enhanced  by  two  objects  not  to  be  seen  now.  One 
of  these  was  a  small  tree  which  grew  in  a  crev- 
ice at  the  top,  about  the  middle  of  the  stream, 
and  which  hung  over,  as  if  peeping  down  to  see 
where  the  water  went  that  rushed  so  madly  by- 
it.  Another  object,  much  more  picturesque  and 
transitory,  too,  was  a  real,  live  Indian,  in  full 

region.  There  is  no  greater  pest  to  be  encountered  there  than 
these  troublesome  insects,  and  there  is  no  surer  antidote  than 
tobacco-smoke,  or  snuff  rubbed  on. 


150  nacoochee;  or, 

costume,  except  that  in  the  warm  weather  his 
hunting -shirt  had  been  thrown  aside,  gazing 
from  a  neighboring  crag  into  the  wild  abyss 
below.  We  gained  but  a  glimpse  of  his  eager 
face,  athletic  limbs,  and  rudely  ornamented  per- 
son, when  he  withdrew  behind  the  rocky  shelf, 
and  we  saw  him  no  more. 

Kaneeka,  to  whom  we  applied  for  informa- 
tion, declared  that  this  visitor  was  not  a  Chero- 
kee—  this,  he  said,  was  plain,  both  from  his 
face  and  dress  —  and  that  the  nearest  guess  he 
could  make  was  that  he  was  a  Choctaw  from 
the  far  West,  come  on  a  visit  to  the  graves 
of  his  fathers,  and  by  some  means  led  to  this 
spot. 

The  afternoon  was  oppressively  warm,  and  no 
sooner  had  we  come  in  sight  of  that  snowy  cas- 
cade than  cousin  Aleck  proposed  our  taking 
a  shower-bath  under  the  spray.  There  was  an 
instant  and  unanimous  assent,  for  the  novelty 
would  have  been  a  temptation,  even  had  the 
prospect  of  pleasure  been  doubtful.  My  father 
readily  gave  his  consent,  saying  he  would  look 
on  and  enjoy  himself  through  us.  Kaneeka 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


seemed  delighted,  but  I  observed  in  his  face  an 
expression  of  waggish  merriment,  as  if  he  antici- 
pated something  rich.  He  and  Saloquah,  hav- 
ing fewer  clothes,  or  perhaps  simpler  fastenings, 
than  the  rest,  were  the  first  persons  ready  for  the 
bath.  They  went  together  under  the  falling 
water,  Kaneeka  leading  the  way,  and  saying 
with  a  loud  voice  : 

"  Ugh  !  ugh  !  wrater  so  cool ! " 

This  was  repeated  by  Saloquah,  who,  I  ob- 
served, gave  a  start  of  surprise,  and  though  they 
both  seemed  to  luxuriate  in  the  refreshing  drops, 
they  drew  themselves  back  under  the  protection 
of  a  shelf  of  rock. 

Lorenzo  and  I  came  next,  but  as  we  were 
going  in,  Kaneeka,  who  for  some  reason  was  on 
his  way  out,  said  in  a  low  tone  to  us  : 

"  Go  in  slow,  and  dorit  holla  /" 

We  saw  that  there  was  some  sport  in  store, 
and  therefore  endeavored  to  obey  instructions, 
but  it  was  as  much  as  we  could  do  to  suppress 
a  scream.  Not  that  the  water  was  so  much 
colder  than  we  expected,  for  the  temperature 
was  delightful ;  nor  that  the  shock  tolhe  nerv- 


152 


NACOOCHEE  J  OR, 


ous  system  took  us  wholly  by  surprise,  for  we 
had  taken  shower-baths  before,  and  knew  that 
there  is  always  a  shock,  —  but  the  big  falling 
drops,  having  created  a  downward  rush  of  air, 
came  upon  our  naked  backs  and  shoulders  with 
the  force  of  so  many  falling  pebbles,  leaving  a 
mark  wherever  they  struck,  and  making  us  dance 
out  of  their  way  more  quickly  than  we  came 
into  it. 

Cousin  Aleck,  completely  taken  in  by  our 
pretended  enjoyment  of  the  lashing  received, 
and  supposing  that  our  exclamations  were  ex- 
pressive of  our  shocks  from  the  cold,  soon  came 
in  for  his  share.  He  hurried  around  a  large 
bowlder  that  lay  between  the  falling  water  and 
the  wall,  and  in  an  instant  he  received  upon 
his  back  and  shoulders  a  thousand  blows, 
each  of  which  stung  like  the  crack  of  a  whip. 
With  a  "  Whoo  !  whoo  !  whoo !  You  wicked 
fellows,  to  cheat  me  so  ! "  he  rushed  from  the 
water  and  examined  his  shoulders,  which  were 
red  as  if  exposed  to  the  action  of  a  mustard- 
plaster. 

When  Quash  and  Scipio  came  to  take  their 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


153 


turn,  they  uttered  perfect  yells  of  pain  and  sur- 
prise. 

No  one  who  takes  a  shower-bath  in  the  soft 
and  feathery  spray  of  Tuccoa  will  forget  it  in 
fifty  years  —  no,  not  in  a  hundred. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


THE  FIGHTING  PREACHER  AND  THE  BLACKSMITH. 

P-MORROW  is  Sunday,"  said  my  father 
to  Major  Walton,  late  in  the  afternoon, 
"and  as  I  am  a  church-goer,  I  shall  be 
glad  to  know  of  some  opportunity  in  the  neigh- 
borhood to  attend  public  worship.  Can  you 
inform  me?" 

There  was  a  merry  twinkle  of  the  Major's 
eye,  as  he  replied : 

"  I  am  glad  to  say  we  are  to  have  meeting  at 
a  church  within  easy  reach,  and  we  shall  be 
served  by  quite  a  famous  character,  known  as 
the  Fighting  Preacher." 

"  Indeed  !  "  returned  my  father,  somewhat 
gravely.  "  That  is  an  odd  title  for  a  minister  of 
the  gospel.  I  confess  I  should  be  more  favor- 
ably impressed  by  hearing  him  called  the  Peace- 

iS4 


NACOOCHEE. 


155 


making  Parson,  or,  as  I  used  to  hear  my  own 
pastor  called,  the  Good  Mr.  ." 

"  As  a  rule,  that  is  true,"  the  Major  quietly 
responded  ;  "  yet  we  rough  people  of  the  fron- 
tier think  that  this  good  man  earned  his  title 
in  serving  his  Master.  But  hear  the  story  and 
judge  for  yourself : 

"At  a  cross-road,  not  far  from  the  church,  lived 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Morgan,  who  until  lately 
was  a  hater  of  religion,  of  religious  people,  of 
religious  things,  of  everything  having  the  name 
of  religion,  except  Universalists  and  Hardshell 
Baptists.  He  had  a  special  dislike  to  Methodist 
preachers.  If  by  any  accident  he  came  within 
earshot  of  preaching,  or  praying,  or  a  distant 
hymn,  the  sound  would  make  him  turn  red  in 
the  face  and  pour  out  his  curses. 

"  He  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade  —  a  great 
fighter,  grim-visaged,  bull-necked,  double-fisted 
—  the  whole  country  was  afraid  of  him.  He 
was  a  good  blacksmith,  though  —  good  neigh- 
bor, good  citizen,  good  everything  except  good 
Christian.  That  he  was  not,  and  most  people 
thought  he  never  could  be. 


iS6 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  His  blacksmith  shop,  as  I  have  said,  was  at 
a  cross-road,  and  of  course  he  saw  his  full  share 
of  church -going  people,  and  of  the  preachers 
too.  He  stood  this  trial  a  good  while,  getting 
more  impatient  each  time,  until  finally  he  began 
to  utter  threats. 

"  One  day,  the  Methodist  circuit-rider  stopped 
at  his  shop  to  have  his  horse  shod,  and,  like 
a  faithful  circuit-rider,  he  engaged  in  religious 
conversation,  in  the  course  of  which  he  not 
only  endeavored  to  soften  Morgan's  feelings,  but 
finally  went  so  far  as  to  urge  upon  him  the  duty 
of  becoming  a  religious  man.  Up  to  this  point 
Morgan  had  stood  all  that  was  said  with  a  pa- 
tience surprising  even  to  himself,  but  this  '  last 
feather  broke  the  camel's  back.'  He  sprang  up 
in  a  rage,  seized  a  leather  strap  that  he  used  for 
rebellious  horses,  collared  the  preacher,  bela- 
bored him  with  it,  and  tried  hard  to  make  him 
promise  never  to  speak  to  him  again  on  the  sub- 
ject of  religion.  Failing  in  this,  however,  he 
drove  him  off  with  the  threat  that  if  he  or  any 
other  Methodist  preacher  dared  to  show  his  face 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


157 


before  that  shop  door,  he  should  become  ac- 
quainted with  his  strap. 

"  This  took  place  not  a  great  while  before  the 
meeting  of  the  Annual  Conference,  when  the 
itinerant  preachers  report  progress,  and  are  as- 
signed their  circuits  for  the  ensuing  year.  Our 
preacher  told  his  tale  to  his  brethren,  and  it  was 
not  to  be  expected  that  many  of  them  would 
covet  the  privilege  of  succeeding  him  in  his  field. 
In  fact,  the  question  as  to  who  should  be  appoint- 
ed there  became  so  difficult  that  the  Bishop  and 
Presiding  Elders  were  greatly  relieved  to  hear 
of  a  volunteer.  This  was  a  certain  brother 
Jones,  who  was  known  among  them  as  an 
earnest,  humble-minded  man,  that,  having  been 
pretty  wild  in  his  early  life,  was  disposed  to 
serve  his  Master  all  the  more  earnestly  in  his 
maturer  years.  He  was  also  known  to  be  a  man 
of  very  quiet  habits,  but  of  tried  courage. 

He  was  appointed  to  the  circuit,  and  he  came. 
So  far  as  anything  could  be  learned  from  his 
conversation,  he  seemed  never  to  have  heard  a 
word  about  Morgan,  or  of  his  treatment  of  the 
former  preacher,  and  to  all  that  was  told  him 


158 


NACOOCHEE ;  OR, 


of  this  unpleasant  subject,  he  turned  a  deaf  or 
indifferent  ear.  Brother  Jones  was  a  great 
singer.  I  don't  say  melodious,  for  to  hear  him 
you  would  as  soon  think  of  a  bull  as  of  a  night- 
ingale ;  but  he  was  very  fond  of  hymns  and 
choruses,  and  when  any  unpleasant  subject  was 
started  in  his  hearing,  he  would  strike  up  some 
favorite  hymn,  and  sing  it  all  away.  He  was  a 
warm-hearted  man,  whose  soul  seemed  to  be  in 
his  work,  and  the  whole  country  took  to  him  at 
once  —  all  except  Morgan,  who,  on  hearing  of 
him,  shook  his  head,  and  said : 

" '  He  had  better  not  come  in  reach  of  my 
strap.' 

"The  preacher  made  his  appointments,  and 
filled  them  without  difficulty,  until  the  time  came 
for  preaching  in  Morgan's  neighborhood.  Late 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  day  before,  Morgan  was 
listening  to  the  pleasant  roar  of  his  forge,  when 
the  music  of  the  fire  began  to  be  mixed  with 
a  roar  of  another  kind.  He  listened.  It  was 
somebody  singing  a  hymn.  It  was  a  Methodist 
hymn.  He  knew  the  chorus  ;  he  had  heard 
children  sing  it  as  they  passed : 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


159 


"  '  I  am  bound  for  the  promised  land ; 

Oh,  won't  you  come  and  go  with  me, 
I  am  bound  for  the  promised  land.' 

"It  was  that  preacher  with  the  big  voice.  No- 
body in  the  neighborhood  ever  sang  that  way 
before.  The  voice  came  nearer.  He  could 
make  out  the  hymn  as  well  as  the  chorus.  It 
was  that  favorite  hymn  of  the  Methodists,  begin- 
ning— 

"  '  On  Jordan's  stormy  banks  I  stand, 

And  cast  a  wishful  eye 
To  Canaan's  fair  and  happy  land, 

Where  my  possessions  lie. 
I  am  bound  for  the  promised  land, 

Oh,  won't  you  come  and  go  with  me,'  etc. 

"'Go  with  you?'  said  Morgan,  with  a  bitter 
laugh,  dropping  his  bellows-handle,  and  seizing 
his  strap.  'Oh,  yes,  I  will  go  as  fur  as  the 
middle  of  the  road  ;  maybe  furder.  Yes,  yes,  I 
will  go  fur  enough  to  see  you  "  marching  to 
Canaan's  fair  and  happy  land "  a  little  faster 
than  you  marched  this  way.' 

"  The  preacher  came  riding  up  on  a  stout, 
shaggy-coated  Indian  pony,  that  looked  as  if  he 


i6o 


nacoochee;  or, 


had  seen  a  good  deal  of  roughness  in  his  day, 
and  could  stand  a  good  deal  more.  Pony  and 
preacher  were  very  much  alike,  for  however 
rough  their  usage,  they  had  been  well  fed  and 
cared  for.  They  suited  each  other  so  well  that 
as  he  came  riding  along  the  road  singing,  the 
pony  looked  as  if  he  wished  he  could  join  in 
the  chorus  too ;  at  least  so  thought  Morgan,  and 
the  thought  amused  him,  as  he  walked  slowly 
toward  the  roadside. 

"'Who  are  you,  making  all  this  fuss  out 
here  ?'  he  asked,  in  a  fierce,  rough  way. 

"  'I  am  not  making  any  fuss.  I  don't  believe 
in  making  a  fuss  with  anybody.  My  name  is 
Jones,'  the  preacher  softly  replied. 

But  you've  made  a  fuss  a'ready,'  persisted 
Morgan,  '  and  I  don't  allow  nobody  to  do  so  in 
these  parts.  My  shop  makes  more'n  noise 
enough  itself.  Your  name,  you  say,  is  Jones. 
Ain't  you  a  Methodist  preacher  ?  ' 

"  '  I  thank  God  for  being  able  to  say  that  I 
am,'  answered  Jones,  with  enthusiasm,  at  the 
same  time  renewing  his  chorus,  '  I  am  bound 
for  the  promised  land/  etc. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME.  l6l 

"  Morgan  was  taken  perfectly  aback.  This  was 
a  kind  of  dealing  that  he  was  not  used  to.  He 
could  see  that  Jones  was  a  character,  and  some- 
how he  could  not  help  liking  him,  though  he 
was  as  much  resolved  as  ever  on  carrying  out 
his  threats. 

"  '  Hain't  you  never  heern  what  I  said  about 
Methodist  preachers  ? '  he  asked,  the  moment 
there  was  pause  enough  in  the  singing  for  him 
to  wedge  in  a  word;  and  then  added,  'that  none 
of  them  shall  pass  this  road  without  being 
licked.' 

"'And  who  are  you,  to  give  such  an  order?' 
asked  the  preacher,  scanning  him  with  curious 
eye  from  head  to  foot. 

"  '  Morgan,  sir ;  my  name  is  Morgan,'  he  an- 
swered, swelling  up,  '  and  this  place  here  is 
Morgan's  Cross-roads,  where  I  have  forbidden 
all  Methodist  preachers  to  pass.' 

"  '  But,  Mr.  Morgan,  suppose  that  your  Master 
as  well  as  mine  orders  me  to  pass  this  road,  who 
am  I  to  obey,  Him  or  you  ? '  inquired  Jones,  in  a 
very  meek  and  patient  way,  endeavoring  to  start 
his  pony,  which  Morgan  now  seized  by  the  bridle. 

VOL.  II.  — L 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  1  All  I  Ve  got  to  say  is,  that  whoever  orders 
you  to  pass  this  road,  orders  you  to  git  a.lickin\% 
said  Morgan,  doggedly.  *  So,  off  from  that 
pony  with  you  ! ' 

" '  Friend,'  said  Jones,  in  a  very  quiet  and 
composed  way,  looking  the  other  full  in  the 
eye,  'I  don't  believe  there  has  been  any  licking 
ordered,  and  don't  believe  I  am  going  to  get 
one.    You  had  better  let  me  pass.'  (Singing.) 

"  '  I  am  bound  for  the  promised  la-a-nd, 
I 'm  bound  for  the  promised  land.' 

"  '  Git  down  this  minute,  sir,  or  I  '11  pull  you 
off! '  said  Morgan,  trying  hard  to  get  mad. 

"Jones  remained  on  his  pony,  singing  part  of 
a  verse : 

"  4  Sweet  fields,  arrayed  in  living  green, 
And  rivers  of  delight, 
I 'm  bound,'  etc. 

"  *  No  use  to  try  stayin'  on  that  pony,'  said 
Morgan,  pulling  at  him,  '  and  no  use  to  be 
singin'  about  rivers  "of  delight."  The  only  thing 
you 've  got  to  enjoy  at  present  is  this  strap. 
So  come,  quick  !  and  off  with  that  coat,  too  ! ' 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


I63 


" '  If  I  can't  pass,  I  suppose  I  must  stop,'  Mr. 
Jones  said,  very  slowly.  '  If  I  can't  stay  on  my 
pony,  I  suppose  I  must  get  off.  If  I  can't  keep 
on  my  preacher's  coat,  I  suppose  I  must  — ' 
saying  which  he  came  leisurely  from  his  pony, 
took  off  his  coat,  threw  it  on  a  rock,  and  said  to 
it :  '  Lie  there,  preacher,  till  I  have  finished 
with  this  man,'  then  squared  himself  up  to 
Morgan,  and  said : 

" '  Here  I  am.' 

"  Morgan  waved  the  strap  over  his  head,  and 
brought  it  down  broadside  with  a  loud  whack, 
across  the  preacher's  shoulders.  But  scarcely 
had  he  done  so,  when  the  other  was  on  him, 
like  a  wild-cat,  and  —  how  it  was  he  does  not 
know  —  he  remembers  only  Jones's  fist  coming 
between  his  eyes  ;  but  when  he  came  to  himself 
he  was  lying  flat  on  his  back  in  the  road,  and 
Jones  sitting  astraddle  of  his  breast,  pinning 
down  both  his  arms,  and  singing : 

"  '  I  am  bound  for  the  promised  land ; 

Oh,  won't  you  come  and  go  with  me, 
I  am  bound  for  the  promised  land.' 


164 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  Morgan  struggled  manfully  to  free  his  arms 
and  to  continue  the  fight.  He  kicked,  he  wrig- 
gled, he  roared,  but  all  in  vain;  he  was  in  Jones's 
hands  like  a  child  under  his  own,  and  all  that 
was  left  to  him  was  to  cry  '  Enough.' 

"But  Jones  did  not  seem  to  hear;  he  kept  up 
his  chorus: 

'  Oh,  won't  you  come  and  go  with  me,' 

and  every  once  in  a  while  his  fist  came  down 
too,  not  with  all  its  might,  but  in  a  very  persua- 
sive way,  as  a  sort  of  time-keeping  to  the  music. 

"  '  Enough,  I  say  ! '  roared  Morgan  ;  1  can't 
you  hear  me,  you  —  ' 

" 1  Don't  call  me  names,  Mr.  Morgan  of  the 
Cross-roads,  or  I  '11  have  to  start  another  hymn/ 
said  Jones,  beginning  another,  and  singing  a 
word  or  two. 

"  '  Stop  that !'  cried  Morgan,  'and  let  me  up! ' 
But  Jones  kept  on. 

"  '  Stop  it,  I  say,'  repeated  Morgan.  '  Did  n't 
you  hear  me  cry,  "  Enough  ?"  ' 

"  'But,  Mr.  Morgan,'  continued  Jones,  with  a 
gentle  pummel,  renewed  often  enough  to  keep 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME.  165 

the  other's  attention  awake,  '  I  have  been  in- 
formed you  have  received  orders  not  to  let  any 
Methodist  preachers  travel  this  road.' 

'"Them  orders  has  been  changed/  said  Mor- 
gan. 

"  '  But  I  have  been  informed  besides/  contin- 
ued Jones,  'that  you  have  promised  to  give  that 
strap  to  every  preacher  that  passes  your  shop.' 

"'I  take  that  promise  back.  Let  me  up,'  said 
Morgan. 

"  '  Maybe,  but  we  are  not  quite  ready  for  it,' 
answered  the  preacher.  '  Mr.  Morgan,  of  the 
Cross-roads,  you  have  been  pretty  free  in  mak- 
ing promises,  and,  I  must  acknowledge,  pretty 
faithful  in  keeping  them.  Now,  before  I  let  you 
up,  there  is  a  promise  or  two  I  want  you  to 
make  mej 

"'I'll  make  'em!  I'll  make  'em!  Let  me 
up  ! '  cried  Morgan. 

"  'Not  till  you  know  what  they  are,'  returned 
Jones,  '  and  not  till  I  am  pretty  sure  that  you 
mean  to  keep  them,  too.    Are  you  ready  ?  ' 

"  '  Ready  !  Yes,  I  have  been  ready  ever  since 
I  said  "  Enough."  ' 


NACOOCHEE ;  OR, 


"  'The  first  is,  that  from  this  day  you  will  let 
all  preachers,  and  especially  Methodist  preach- 
ers, alone.    Do  you  promise?' 

" '  Yes,  with  all  my  heart,  if  they  are  any- 
ways like  you.' 

"  'Another  thing,' — and  here  the  preacher  gave 
himself  time  to  think  by  singing  a  line  or  two, 
-  and  then  went  on :  '  I  reckon,  from  what  people 
say,  it  is  a  long  time,  Mr.  Morgan,  since  you 
have  been  to  church.  The  second  promise  I 
wish  you  to  make  me  is,  that  whenever  there  is 
an  appointment  for  preaching  in  this  neighbor- 
hood, and  especially  a  Methodist  appointment, 
you  will  attend  it.    Do  you  promise  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,  yes,  I  promise.  Let  me  up  now,'  said 
Morgan. 

"  '  Only  one  promise  more,'  said  the  preacher, 
'  and  I 'm  done.'  He  paused  a  little,  and  Mor- 
gan thought  he  was  going  to  sing  again,  but  he 
did  not;  he  only  clenched  his  fist  hard  and 
drew  back  his  arm,  as  if  about  to  give  a  tremen- 
dous blow,  and  said : 

"  '  Mr.  Morgan,  you  have  been  a  torn-down 
sinner,  and  I  think  it  is  time  that  you  had  turned 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


167 


from  your  evil  ways.  I  did  not  expect  to  take 
you  under  my  care  so  soon,  but  I  find  you  easy 
to  deal  with,  and  I  have  taken  a  fancy  to  you. 
The  last  promise  I  exact  is,  that  you  will  quit 
your  wicked  ways,  and  try  to  be  a  good  man.' 

"  ■  I  promise  ;  yes,  I  promise,'  roared  Morgan, 
moving  his  head  to  escape  the  heavy  fist  that 
seemed  to  be  coming  down  between  his  eyes. 

"Jones  allowed  him  to  rise,  looked  at  him  a 
moment,  said  to  him,  '  I  have  an  appointment 
to  preach  at  the  church  to-morrow,  and  expect 
to  see  you  there/  put  on  his  coat,  and  rode  off. 

"  Sure  enough,  the  next  day  Morgan  was  at 
church,  for  the  first  time  in  many  years ;  and  he 
has  never  missed  an  appointment  since,  though 
it  is  now  more  than  a  year  since  this  happened. 
He  became  one  of  the  best  friends  Mr.  Jones 
has  in  the  circuit,  and  soon  joined  his  church. 
When  the  year  was  out,  and  the  time  came  for 
a  new  appointment  —  for  no  Methodist  itinerant 
is  allowed  to  stay  longer  on  his  circuit  than  one 
year,  except  by  special  request  *  —  Morgan 
united  with  others  in  a  request  to  the  Confer- 

*  This  was  true  in  1822,  and  long  afterward. 


nacoochee;  or, 


ence  to  have  him  sent  here  again,  which  has 
been  done.  To-morrow,  if  you  go  to  our 
church,  you  will  probably  see  both  Jones  and 
Morgan." 

"  Go  !  indeed  I  will,"  replied  my  father,  "  un- 
less kept  away  by  something  beyond  my  con- 
trol. But,  Major,  allow  me  to  ask  two  ques- 
tions :  First,  how  much  of  this  story  is  true  ?  " 

"The  body  of  it  —  the  main  part  of  it — all 
but  the  dressing  up,"  returned  the  Major.  "  I 
give  you  the  story  as  it  is  currently  reported  in 
the  circuit,  and  as  it  was  set  on  foot  by  Morgan 
himself.  He  and  the  preacher  were  the  only 
ones  present,  and  the  preacher  never  would  say 
much  on  the  subject,  while  Morgan  seemed 
greatly  to  enjoy  the  joke." 

"The  second  question  I  wish  to  ask,"  said 
my  father,  "  is  :  How  comes  it  to  pass  that  you, 
Major,  and  others  like  you,  who  know  what  be- 
longs to  good  order,  should  allow  your  preach- 
ers to  be  treated  in  this  way  ?  " 

"  Oh,  as  for  that,"  the  Major  answered,  with  a 
laugh,  "  we  people  of  the  frontier  think  far  less 
of  a  fight,  or  of  a  harmless  beating,  than  you 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


169 


folks  of  the  old  country,  or  of  the  seaboard. 
More  than  this,  Morgan  was  too  good  a  black- 
smith to  be  lost  to  the  neighborhood,  and  we 
judged  it  best,  as  you  see  it  has  proved,  that  he 
and  the  preachers  should  pleasantly  fight  it  out 
among  themselves.  There  are  no  two  men  in 
the  circuit  more  highly  thought  of  now  than 
Jones  and  Morgan." 

We  went  to  church  the  next  day,  and  there 
saw  the  two  combatants  as  kind  and  loving  as 
two  brothers.* 

*  Readers  of  Dickens's  "  Household  Words  "  will  find  in 
"Vol.  X.,No.  249,  under  the  title  of"  Colonel  Quaggs's  Conver- 
sion," a  long  caricature  of  this  scene,  which  is  related  above 
substantially  as  it  used  to  be  told  in  the  reputed  neighborhood, 
and  received  there  as  historical.  Whether  or  not  it  is  true 
in  all  its  details,  it  is  perfectly  true  as  a  picture  of  the  times. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


TALULAH,    SOUTHERN    END  VIEW    FROM  TOP  OF 

THE    CLIFFS  DESCENT  VIEW    FROM  BELOW 

 ADVENTURE. 


IE  did  not  leave  Tuccoa  very  early  the 
I  next  day.  My  aunt  had  not  yet  enjoyed 
her  share  of  the  Falls,  and  possibly  the 
"Good  cheer  —  to  be  had  here," 
at  Major  Walton's,  may  have  had  some  influ- 
ence in  causing  the  delay.  It  was  not  until 
nine  o'clock  of  a  very  sultry  day  that  the 
heavy  lumbering  of  our  wheels  and  the  tramp 
of  our  horses  announced  our  departure  to  Talu- 
lah. 

The  distance  was  only  fourteen  miles,  but  the 
roads  were  so  rough,  the  day  so  hot,  and  we 
paused  so  long  at  our  "  nooning  "  that  we  did 

170 


NACOOCHEE. 


171 


not  reach  our  destination  until  four  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon. 

Talulah  is  the  name  of  a  small  branch  of  the 
Savannah  River,  so  called,  no  doubt  from  the 
Falls,  rather  than  the  falls  named  from  it. 

"Armah-Ta-lu-lah  mean  Water  Terrible, 
Roaring,"  said  Kaneeka. 

But  the  Talulah  is  not  a  41  terrible  roaring 
water "  anywhere  but  here.  In  all  other  parts 
of  its  course  it  is  as  quiet  and  order-loving  a 
stream  as  is  ordinarily  to  be  found  in  a  moun- 
tain country.  Here,  however,  for  a  mile  it 
rushes  through  a  chasm  so  wild  as  to  give  it 
very  appropriately  the  name  of  Armah-Talulah. 

It  was  at  the  lower  end  that  we  first  arrived, 
and  where  our  road  abruptly  terminated.  Here 
by  Kaneeka's  instruction  we  halted,  fastened 
our  horses,  and  afterward  encamped,  on  a  level 
spot,  shaded  by  well-grown  trees,  bounded  to 
the  right  by  a  rivulet  flowing  through  a  steep, 
rocky  ravine.  A  hundred  yards  before  us  ap- 
peared what  filled  us  with  awe,  and  made  us 
approach  with  bated  breath.  It  was  an  empty 
space.    Strange  that  so  strong  an  impression 


172 


nacoochee;  or, 


should  be  produced  by  nothing  ;  but  so  it  was, 
and  very  •  naturally,  for  the  level  ground  there 
came  to  a  sudden  break,  and  all  beyond  was 
emptiness  and  nothing,  until  the  eye  rested 
upon  rocks  and  trees  made  blue  by  distance. 
The  solitude  of  the  intervening  space  was  awful. 

Our  cousin  Aleck  had  not  been  seen  for  half 
an  hour.  While  we  had  paused  to  enjoy  a  beau- 
tiful mountain  view,  he  had  galloped  ahead  on 
his  pony.  We  did  not  see  him  again  until  we 
had  fastened  our  horses  and  were  approaching 
the  precipice.  There  he  sat,  perched  on  the 
last  edge  of  a  rocky  shelf,  over  which  his 
feet  dangled,  while  he  seemed  to  be  absorbed 
in  contemplating  the  magnificent  view  be- 
yond. 

As  he  saw  us  hurrying  to  join  him,  he  put 
back  his  hand  with  a  sign  of  warning,  and  said : 
"  Be  cautious." 

The  descent  to  where  he  sat  was  short  but 
rapid,  and  had  we  made  too  eager  a  start  we 
could  not  have  checked  ourselves.  Perceiving 
quickly  the  need  of  caution,  we  moved  with 
care  until  we  attained  a  position  where  the  abyss 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


173 


beyond  might  be  viewed  with  some  degree  of 
satisfaction. 

It  was  an  immense  amphitheatre,  or  irregular 
basin,  excavated  in  the  mountain  ridge,  and 
bounded  by  sides  of  rock.  Its  depth  did  not  im- 
press us  at  first  as  being  very  great,  only  unusual. 
Far  down  at  the  bottom — we  could  not  tell  how 
far,  since  there  was  nothing  visible  between  us 
and  it  that  the  eye  could  use  as  a  measure  of  dis- 
tance—  far  down  was  a  bewitching  little  stream, 
apparently  narrow  enough  to  be  stepped  across, 
wandering  in  and  out  among  the  rocks  and  shrub- 
bery, and  every  here  and  there  becoming  unac- 
countably white  as  snow.  I  say  unaccountably, 
for  although  we  could  have  accounted  for  its 
changes  of  color  had  they  been  accompanied  by 
the  roar  of  falling  water,  there  was  no  roar,  and 
therefore  the  little  playful  stream  seemed  to 
whiten  in  mere  wantonness.  On  both  sides  of 
it  on  the  comparatively  level  bottom,  were 
masses  of  loose  rock,  some  in  large  slabs  tilted 
on  end,  some  like  bowlders  piled  in  heaps,  but 
all  in  confusion.  Among  these  rocks,  and  over 
them,  grew  occasional  patches  of  what  seemed 


1 74 


nacoochee;  or, 


to  be  shrubbery,  that  varied  in  height  from  that 
of  a  man  to  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  and  between  us 
and  it  there  seemed  to  be  stretched  an  invisible 
veil  of  soft  blue. 

While  gazing  in  admiration,  and  endeavoring 
to  understand  the  mystery  of  this  strange  blend- 
ing of  the  fairy-like  with  the  gigantic,  which 
everywhere  appeared,  we  were  awakened  to  a 
partial  sense  of  the  reality  by  seeing  far  below 
us,  yet  far  above  the  bottom,  the  brown  back  and 
outspread  wings  of  a  buzzard,  sailing  in  grace- 
ful flight  as  we  often  see  it  above  the  treetops. 
In  an  instant,  the  secret  was  revealed  of  the 
diminutive  beauty  and  bluish  tinge  we  had  no- 
ticed—  they  were  the  effect  of  distance ;  and 
with  this  idea  of  the  immense  depth  we  instinc- 
tively drew  back  and  grasped  something  for  sup- 
port. 

Soon,  however,  regaining  courage  so  as  to 
look  down  without  dizziness,  we  amused  our- 
selves with  another  test  of  the  depth :  we 
threw  sticks  and  stones  as  far  as  we  could  into 
the  chasm,  and  were  surprised  to  see  how  they 
seemed  to  curve  back  under  us  and  disappear 


BOY- LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


175 


from  sight,  as  if  attracted  by  the  wall  of  rock 
on  which  we  stood.  But  they  did  not  curve 
back ;  they  only  seemed  to  do  so  because  of  the 
distance. 

The  pathway  down  was  exceedingly  steep 
and  rugged.  Oftentimes  we  lost  balance  and 
saved  ourselves  from  rolling  by  clinging  to 
friendly  twigs;  or  after  having  rolled  and  slidden 
a  pace  or  two,  we  brought  up  against  a  tree  or 
rock. 

"  Take  care  below  !  "  was  a  frequent  cry,  as 
some  heavy  stone,  dislodged  from  its  insecure 
bed,  went  thundering  down  the  steep  declivity, 
crushing  the  saplings  and  barking  the  larger 
trees  in  its  progress.  These  stones  were  so 
easily  displaced,  and,  at  that  time,  were  scat- 
tered so  plentifully  along  the  way,  that  it  was 
not  safe  for  passers  up  and  down  to  be  far  sepa- 
rated. At  times  we  came  to  places  where  a 
short  ladder  would  have  been  a  great  conveni- 
ence, but  where  we  were  compelled  to  leap  or 
let  ourselves  down  our  full  length  over  some 
short  cliff.  The  question  very  naturally  arose 
at  such  places,  How  shall  we  get  back  ?  but  we 


176 


nacoochee;  or, 


made  no  pause,  for  others  had  passed,  and  so 
might  we. 

Fairly  at  the  bottom  we  found  ourselves  stand- 
ing upon  a  rough,  irregular  floor  of  rock,  worn 
in  places  into  deep  wells  by  the  action  of  water 
upon  large  rolling  stones,  some  of  which  lay 
then  within  them.  The  stream  was  no  longer  a 
purling  rivulet,  as  it  seemed  from  above,  but  a 
small  river,  varying  in  width  from  ten  to  fifty 
yards,  and  hurrying  from  one  ledge  of  rock  to 
another,  over  which  it  glided  in  quiet  beauty,  or 
plunged  with  angry  roar,  according  to  the  depth 
and  inclination. 

As  seen  below,  all  things  around  us  were  as 
grand  as  from  above  they  had  seemed  diminu- 
tive. We  could  have  no  doubt  of  the  height  of 
the  precipice,  whatever  uncertainty  there  might 
have  been  as  to  its  depth ;  it  towered  up,  up,  up, 
until  we  almost  looked  to  see  the  lower  clouds 
gather  on  its  margin. 

During  this  visit  to  the  bottom,  we  boys  en- 
gaged in  a  little  adventure  which  came  near 
being  fatal.  The  rivulet  above,  near  which  we 
had  halted  and   were   preparing  to  encamp, 


BOY- LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


177 


flawed  along  its  narrow  bed  to  the  boldest  part 
of  the  cliffs,  where  it  trickled  perpendicularly 
down  the  bare  rock  for  near  a  thousand  feet, 
until  coming  to  a  slope  about  eighty  feet  from 
the  bottom,  it  flowed  off  to  the  river,  watering, 
as  it  went,  many  plants  which  grew  in  the  crev- 
ices. Attracted  by  some  rich-looking  flowers, 
Lorenzo  and  I,  with  Saloquah  in  the  lead,  and 
Scipio  in  the  rear,  ascended  this  stream  a  little 
way,  when  we  hallooed  to  my  father,  who  was 
at  the  bottom,  and  asked  leave  to  ascend  higher. 

"  Go,  if  you  have  good  foothold,"  he  an- 
swered, 

"All  safe!"  we  shouted  in  reply,  and  passed 
on,  having  our  feet  bare,  and  our  pantaloons 
rolled  up  to  our  knees,  and  clambering  over  the 
wet  rock  by  sticking  our  toes  in  the  crevices. 

We  enjoyed  ourselves  much,  gathering  flow- 
ers and  gaining  views  of  the  scene  below,  until 
we  came  to  a  comparatively  level  place,  where 
many  thin  pieces  of  rock,  scaled  off  from  the 
face  of  the  precipice  above,  probably  by  the  ac- 
tion of  frost,  lay  in  the  trickling  water.  Here 
we  amused  ourselves  by  starting  some  of  the 

VOL.  II.  —  M 


178 


nacoochee;  or, 


larger  pieces,  and  seeing  them  slide  with  accel- 
erated velocity  toward  the  river.  Scipio,  who 
was  uppermost,  had  just  sent  a  big  slab  skating 
after  the  others,  when  I  saw  him  leap  suddenly 
into  the  air  with  a  prolonged  "  Boo-oo-oo  !  "  of 
disgust  and  fear.  He  alighted  on  a  slippery  sur- 
face, lost  his  balance,  and  began  to  roll  down 
the  rock.  Lorenzo,  who  was  next,  was  about  to 
be  upset  by  his  rolling  body,  when  I  saw  him 
also  leap  into  the  air,  then  plant  himself  on  a 
dry  spot,  from  whence  he  cried  out : 

"  Take  care,  Saloquah  !  Take  care,  Johnnie  ! 
Snakes  !  snakes  !  " 

By  this  time,  Scipio  had  evidently  lost  all 
control  of  himself,  and  was  rolling  down  the  rock 
to  certain  death,  when  Saloquah  threw  himself  on 
all-fours  in  the  wet  moss,  braced  himself,  and 
arrested  his  progress.  In  doing  so,  I  heard  him 
utter  one  of  his  decided  Indian  grunts,  then  call 
aloud  to  us  all : 

"  Can't  hurt  you  !  don't  be  afraid  !  " 

By  this  time  the  cause  of  disturbance  had  ex- 
tended to  myself.  It  was  a  crowd  of  water- 
snakes.    Scipio,  in  removing  that  flat  rock,  had 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


179 


uncovered  their  nest  or  home,  and  they  had 
made  for  the  river,  running  along  the  deepest 
water  they  could  find,  and,  in  so  doing,  they 
whipped  right  between  our  naked  legs.  It  was 
this  that  made  Scipio  leap  into  the  air.  They 
had  reached  Lorenzo  a  moment  before  Scipio's 
coming,  and  caused  him  to  jump  aside  just  in 
time  to  escape  his  rolling  body.  Soon  after  this 
they  reached  Saloquah,  who,  seeing  Scipio  roll- 
ing down,  and  knowing  that  the  snakes  were 
not  venomous,  threw  himself  on  all-fours  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  allowed  them  to  wriggle 
over  his  hands  and  feet,  while  he  braced  himself 
to  save  the  endangered  boy.  I  confess  that 
when  they  came  at  last  to  me  and  began  to  run 
over  my  naked  feet,  and  to  slap  my  ankles  with 
their  tails,  the  sensation  was  so  horrid,  that  had 
it  not  been  for  Saloquah's  words,  and  more 
especially  for  his  heroic  effort  to  save  life,  of 
which  I  was  a  witness,  and  from  which  I  could 
not  withhold  my  admiration,  I  should  probably 
have  leaped  to  avoid  them,  as  the  others  did, 
and  in  consequence  have  perished  by  rolling 
down  the  rock. 


i8o 


NACOOCHEE. 


We  made  our  way  safely  to  the  bottom,  just 
in  time  to  hear  my  father  say: 

"  Nearly  sunset !    Time  to  return  !  " 

The  ascent  began  without  delay,  but  oh,  the 
labor !  On  the  trip  at  several  points  we  were 
compelled  to  make  use  of  each  other  as  lad- 
ders, and  then  to  pull  up  the  last  one  by  hand. 
Many  a  stop  we  made  for  rest  and  breath ;  and 
when  we  reached  the  summit,  which  was  only  a 
few  minutes  before  sunset,  we  all,  except  our 
two  red  friends,  threw  ourselves  upon  the 
ground  and  panted. 

"  Worth  the  trouble,  though ! "  said  cousin 
Aleck,  enthusiastically. 

"Ready  to  go  down  again  to-morrow,"  Lo- 
renzo and  I  responded. 

"  Not  until  after  we  have  seen  the  other  parts, 
though  — The  Pulpit  and  The  Falls,"  decided 
my  father. 

That  night  we  wasted  no  time  in  wakefulness  ; 
every  available  moment  was  given  to  solid,  re- 
freshing sleep. 


CHAPTER  XVli. 


A  DEER  IN    THE    AIR  ALMOST    A  STAMPEDE  

IMPROVISED  LADDERS  THE     CATARACTS  AND 

CASCADES  PECULIAR    FEATURES  OF  TALULAH 

—  THE    PULPIT  TRADITION    OF    A  FEARFUL 

TRAGEDY. 

iE  had  quite  a  scene  of  excitement  the 
next  morning.  Our  company  had  ac- 
cidentally assumed  the  shape  of  the 
letter  V,  with  its  point  at  the  highest  part  of 
the  precipice.  Our  horses,  nine  in  number, 
were  halted  in  a  long  irregular  line  near  the 
margin  of  the  rivulet  that  has  been  described 
as  trickling  over  the  cliff.  Quash  and  Scipio, 
under  the  direction  of  Kaneeka,  constituting 
the  other  wing  of  the  V,  were  engaged  in  pre- 
paring a  rude  ladder  by  which  we  might  descend 
to  the  main  cataract.    I  was  standing  with  my 

1S1 


182 


nacoochee;  or, 


father  on  the  edge  of  the  cliff  overlooking  the 
spot  below,  where  our  scramble  with  the  snakes 
had  taken  place  the  evening  before.  Lorenzo 
was  coming  with  his  mother  to  the  same  place 
down  a  steep  narrow  pathway  on  the  side  of 
the  ravine.  Suddenly  we  heard  Saloquah,  who 
was  in  a  thicket  of  bushes  a  few  steps  above  us, 
call  out  in  quick,  warning  tones  : 

"Take  care  !  You  in  a  deer-path !  Deer  com- 
ing now ! " 

Until  that  moment,  none  of  us  had  noticed 
that  the  narrow  path,  which  my  aunt  and  cousin 
were  following,  terminated  abruptly  at  a  ledge 
of  rock  overhanging  the  little  stream,  and  reap- 
peared as  abruptly  on  the  opposite  bank,  fifteen 
feet  away,  as  if  its  frequenters  were  in  the  habit 
of  leaping  the  ravine,  which  at  this  point  was 
both  deep  and  precipitous.  It  was  a  capital 
place  for  deer  to  escape  temporarily  from  pur- 
suing dogs. 

Lorenzo  and  his  mother  were  by  this  time 
standing  on  the  ledge  of  rock  from  which  the  leap 
was  made,  and  seemed  to  be  in  doubt  what  to  do. 
Afar  off  came  the  yelp  of  a  dog  in  pursuit.  It 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


183 


was  Medor.  He  and  Selkirk  had  been  missing  all 
the  morning.  The  yelp  came  rapidly  nearer,  ac- 
companied now  by  a  whine.  This  last  was  Sel- 
kirk's. He  had  been  trained  to  hunt  silently,  but 
having  been  tempted  to  violate  rules  in  going  off 
with  Medor  to  hunt  without  leave,  he  was  now 
yielding,  as  far  as  he  dared,  to  the  example  set 
him  in  barking.  As  they  came  nearer,  we  heard 
a  tramp,  very  light,  evidently  of  dogs  and  deer; 
then  a  tramp,  very  heavy,  as  of  horses  in  commo- 
tion, accompanied  by  the  loud  voices  of  Quash 
and  Scipio. 

"Whoa,  sir!  whoa!  whoa!  Quiet,  Don! 
Easy,  Dick  !  "  etc. 

During  this  commotion,  a  magnificent  buck, 
with  high  branching  horns  and  lifted  tail,  rushed 
down  the  narrow  path,  closely  pursued  by  our 
dogs.  Poor  fellow!  his  look  of  perplexity  and 
terror  was  almost  human  as  he  found  his  farther 
progress  arrested  by  two  persons  standing  on 
the  only  spot  from  which  his  leap  across  the 
ravine  could  be  made.  "  What  am  I  to  do  ?  " 
was  the  question  which  he  evidently  asked  him- 
self, yet  could  not  pause  to  answer.    The  dogs 


nacoochee;  or, 


were  almost  at  his  legs.  Saloquah  was  in  the 
bushes  to  his  right,  shouting  to  my  aunt  and 
Lorenzo,  "  Get  out  of  way ! "  He  therefore 
leaped  at  random  to  the  left,  and  there  suddenly 
discovering  my  father  and  myself  within  two 
paces  of  him,  he  made  another  random  leap, 
which  carried  him  clear  over  the  cliff,  where  we 
saw  him  go  down  —  down  —  down  —  with  head 
and  tail  erect,  and  feet  still  stretched  out,  as  if  to 
alight  at  the  bottom.  He  did  alight — so  far 
below  as  to  look  not  much  bigger  than  a  rabbit 
— but  he  never  rose  again.  A  rocky  chasm  of 
a  thousand  feet  perpendicular  depth  is  too  deep 
to  leap  into  and  live.  His  body  rebounded 
from  the  sloping  rock  and  rolled  a  mangled 
mass  into  the  river. 

Our  dogs,  wild  with  excitement,  turned  with 
him  toward  the  precipice,  and  might  possibly 
have  perished  with  him,  had  not  a  word  of  com- 
mand from  my  father  checked  the  dangerous  pur- 
suit. The  horses,  however,  were  not  so  easily  qui- 
eted. The  rush  of  dogs  and  deer  within  a  few  paces 
of  them  had  created  quite  a  panic.  They  reared, 
plunged,  pulled,  and  used  every  expedient  to 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


I85 


break  loose ;  but  fortunately  the  fastenings  were 
too  strong ;  else  they  also  would  have  followed 
the  course  of  the  deer,  and  would  not,  like  the 
dogs,  have  been  restrained  by  the  word  of  com- 
mand. 

Half  an  hour  afterward,  Kaneeka  announced 
the  ladders  ready  for  transportation,  when  they 
were  shouldered,  and  we  took  up  our  line  of  march 
to  "  The  Falls/'  as  the  upper  and  main  cataract 
is  called. 

These  consist  of  a  leap  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  made  by  the  river  through  a  rocky 
gorge  of  not  more  than  twenty-five  feet  wide. 
There  are  three  stand-points  from  which  this 
plunge  of  the  water  may  be  viewed  —  one  from 
the  top  of  the  cataract  itself;  another  from  its 
rough  bottom,  where  great  disjointed  rocks  are 
always  wet  and  slippery  with  spray;  and  a 
third,  a  furlong  or  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  from 

"  the  dreadful  summit  of  a  cliff 
That  beetles  o'er  his  base." 

Viewed  from  any  of  them  it  makes  an  unfailing 
impression  of  sublimity,  even  on  those  who  have 


1 86 


nacoochee;  or, 


witnessed  the. more  stupendous  scenes  of  Niag- 
ara. So,  in  a  measure,  do  the  lesser  Falls,  in 
which  the  frightened  river  leaps  fifty,  sixty,  and 
eighty  feet  into  some  craggy  bed  or  boiling 
eddy ;  while  numerous  cascades,  in  which  the 
water  glides  whitening  over  moss-grown  slopes, 
afford  the  mind  the  almost  coveted  relief  of 
beauty. 

The  chief  feature  of  Talulah,  however,  is 
neither  its  cataracts  nor  its  cascades.  It  is  the 
chasm  through  which  the  river  flows,  flanked  on 
either  side  with  giddy  precipices,  wild  castellated 
cliffs,  and  awful  fronts  of  rock  wrought  into 
various  forms  of  grandeur. 

There  was  one  point,  especially,  where  we 
stopped  on  our  way  from  "The  Cliffs  "  to  "  The 
Falls,"  that  interested  us  much.  We  stood  upon 
a  height,  and  not  only  saw  the  main  cataract  at 
a  distance,  but  at  the  same  time  looked  across 
the  chasm,  to  a  bare  face  of  perpendicular  rock 
on  the  other  side,  fifteen  hundred  feet  high, 
crowned  with  irregular  battlements,  marked 
with  upright  seams,  and  so  highly  colored  in 
many  parts  with  lichens  as  to  gain  for  it  the 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


I87 


name  of  the  "  Painted  Rocks."  Far  up  its 
dreadful  side,  yet  too  far  below  its  top  to  be 
accessible,  is  a  dark  door-like  cavity,  in  which, 
as  we  looked,  there  appeared  a  small  brownish 
object. 

"  People  call  that  cave"  said  Kaneeka,  " and 
some  say  eagle  nest  in  it." 

Immediately  adjoining  this  height  was  what 
was  known  as  "  The  Pulpit."  A  fearful  pulpit 
it  was,  impressing  us  with  the  idea  that  whoever 
should  use  it  as  a  place  for  preaching  must 
expect  to  have  no  auditors  except  such  as  can 
approach  on  wing.  It  is  a  great  shelf  of  rock 
projecting  into  the  air  over  a  void  of  many  hun- 
dreds of  feet.  One's  flesh  naturally  creeps  to 
think  of  this  shelf  giving  way  and  letting  him 
down  into  the  abyss  below.  But  these  feelings 
soon  vanish,  or  are  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  enjoyment  of  magnificent  views  to  be 
obtained  from  this  point  alone. 

While  here,  Kaneeka's  appearance  became  so 
grave  as  to  attract  our  attention. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  Kaneeka  ? "  inquired 
cousin  Aleck. 


188 


NACOOCHEE ;  OR, 


"  Place  not  good.  Don't  like  to  be  here," 
Kaneeka  replied. 

"  Why  not  good  ?  "  he  was  asked  again. 

"  Bad  thing  happen  here  long  time  ago,"  he 
answered. 

On  being  pressed  for  the  history,  he  gave  us 
the  following  tradition,  which  I  relate  partly  in 
his  own  graphic  language  : 

"  One  lifetime  ago,  when  there  was  big  war 
between  your  people  and  the  red -coats,  the 
Cherokees  take  many  scalps  and  some  prisoners. 
When  the  war  ended  we  gave  back  all  prison- 
ers that  were  alive.  Ten  of  those  whom  we 
took  met  their  death  at  this  rock,  but  not  from 
sickness.  While  our  young  men  were  on  the 
war-path,  the  prisoners,  eleven  in  number,  were 
left  in  charge  of  an  old  warrior  and  some 
women  at  The  Chopped  Oak,  with  instructions  to 
treat  them  well,  but  keep  them  safely.  Among 
the  women  was  one  known  as  Kosta-yeak  (or 
Sharp-fellow).  She  was  born  a  Choctaw,  but 
lived  among  the  Catawbas,  and  finally  settled 
with  us.  She  was  a  very  wise  woman,  and  ex- 
erted great  influence  wherever  she  went.  But 


EOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


she  was  as  revengeful  as  she  was  knowing.  She 
never  forgave  an  injury,  and  never  forgot  it. 
Nothing  gave  her  more  pleasure  than  to  see  a 
bloody  scalp,  especially  of  a  white  man.  It  is 
reported  that  the  reason  she  left  her  own  people 
for  the  Catawbas,  and  afterward  the  Catawbas 
for  us,  was  that  in  both  those  nations  she  had 
caused  the  death  of  white  people,  and  had  to  flee 
away  to  escape  being  weighed." 

"  Weighed  !  "  exclaimed  cousin  Aleck  ;  "  what 
do  you  mean  ?  " 

Kaneeka  laughed  inwardly.  "  When  you 
weigh  a  hog  or  a  deer  you  hang  it  up,  do  you 
not  ? "  he  replied  interrogatively.  Then  he 
added,  "  My  people  see  you  do  so  with  people 
too  bad  to  live,  and  they  say  you  weigh  them." 

"  Oh,  by  weighing  you  mean  hanging"  said 
cousin  Aleck,  much  amused  at  the  odd  conceit. 

"  Mean  hanging,"  said  Kaneeka,  assentingly  ; 
then  continued.  "  While  the  prisoners  were  at 
Chopped  Oak  all  persons  were  surprised  to  see 
Kosta-yeak  treat  them  so  kindly.  She  was 
much  in  their  company,  and  did  so  much  for 
them  that  they  accounted  her  the  best  friend 


190 


nacoochee;  or, 


they  had  in  the  nation.  But  it  was  all  show. 
She  was  a  rattlesnake,  and  was  charming  them  to 
death.  My  people  learned  a  lesson  from  her 
which  they  repeat  to  this  day,  When  bad  people 
become  too  kind,  look  out  for  snake-bites. 

"One  night,  soon  after  all  were  asleep,  she 
came  softly  to  their  cabin  with  a  bag  of  parched 
corn  and  some  hams  of  dried  venison.  She 
waked  each  by  a  gentle  shake,  and  asked  if  they 
wished  to  go  home.  They  answered  joyfully 
that  they  did.  She  said  she  was  prepared  to 
take  them  that  very  night,  on  two  conditions  — 
that  they  should  start  at  once,  and  that  they 
should  consent  to  be  blindfolded  until  they  had 
crossed  the  river.  They  answered  that  they  ac- 
counted her  a  friend,  and  that  she  might  do  with 
them  as  she  pleased. 

"  She  then  loosed  them  from  their  stakes,  di- 
vided among  them  the  provisions  to  be  carried, 
blindfolded  them  securely,  and  kept  them  in 
line  by  a  little  string  tied  loosely  to  each,  then 
putting  herself  at  their  head  she  marched  them 
silently  out  of  camp.  Whenever  they  came  to 
a  gully  or  log  lying  across  the  path,  she  would 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME.  I9I 

warn  them  by  saying,  '  step  up,'  or  '  step 
down,'  or  'jump!'  as  the  case  required.  They 
marched  very  fast,  and  by  the  time  they  had 
reached  the  spot  where  we  now  stand,  she 
had  shown  them  so  many  little  attentions  that 
they  were  ready  to  do  anything  she  required. 
Just  behind  those  thick  bushes  she  halted  the 
line,  telling  them  there  was  a  rough  gully  before 
them  which  they  must  pass  singly.  Then  she 
took  each  by  the  arm  in  turn,  led  him  to  the 
edge  of  the  shelf  and  said,  '  Now  jump  into 
this  little  gully.' 

"  All  except  the  last  two  did  as  she  directed, 
and  were  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocks  below. 
These  two  were  a  man  and  a  boy.  The  man's 
suspicions  were  awakened  by  observing  the 
huskiness  of  her  voice,  and  by  hearing  some- 
thing like  a  curse  coming  through  her  clenched 
teeth.  When  the  time  came  for  him  to  'jump 
into  the  little  gully  '  he  pretended  to  be  afraid, 
and  suddenly  grasped  her  arm.  She  tried  to 
shake  him  off,  and  to  shove  him  over  the  preci- 
pice. They  struggled  for  a  moment  on  its  edge, 
he  holding  to  her  for  safety,  and  she  yelling  out 


192 


NACOOCHEE. 


her  curses,  until  they  both  went  together  to  the 
bottom. 

"At  the  first  sound  of  the  struggle  the  boy 
tore  the  bandage  from  his  eyes  and  rushed  from 
his  concealment  in  time  to  witness  the  closing 
scene.  He  then  made  his  way  back  to  the 
Chopped  Oak,  and,  more  dead  than  alive  with 
horror,  recounted  the  facts  as  I  have  given  them 
to  you.  When  our  young  men  returned  from 
the  war-path  they  found  the  bones  of  eleven 
persons  lying  at  the  bottom  of  the  chasm. 

"  From  that  day  to  this  the  rock  which  you 
call  Pulpit  has  had  a  bad  name.  We  red  people 
do  not  like  to  come  near  it" 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


BEAUTIFUL  VALLEY — INTERESTING  RELIC  WILD- 
WOODS  DRUMMER  —  "  WHO  CUT  THESE  LOGS  ?  " 

ROM  Talulah,  "  The  Terrible,"  a  ride  of 
fifteen  miles  transferred  us  to  the  vale 
of  Nacoochee.  Our  road  was  rough  as 
usual,  until  we  crossed  a  little  stream  called  the 
Soqueh,  where  we  entered  upon  a  road  the  most 
pleasant  we  have  seen  since  leaving  the  ridge 
of  the  "  Kissing  Waters,"  and  were  conducted 
by  it  to  the  brow  of  a  gentle  hill,  from  which 
we  looked  upon  a  scene  of  surpassing  loveli- 
ness. 

A  quiet  valley  lay  there  embosomed  between 
two  mountain  ranges.  It  was  four  miles  long, 
by  half  a  mile  broad,  level  as  a  floor,  and  open 
to  our  view  from  end  to  end.  There  flowed 
through  it  a  clear  stream  ten  or  fifteen  paces 

VOL.  II. — n  *93 


194 


nacoochee;  or, 


wide ;  on  both  sides  of  which  the  rich  bottom 
was  divided  into  a  number  of  farms,  highly  cul- 
tivated, and  brilliant  with  every  hue  of  vegeta- 
tion, from  the  emerald  green  of  half  -  grown 
maize  to  the  golden  yellow  of  ripening  wheat. 
From  the  edge  of  the  valley  to  our  left  rose  a 
grand  old  mountain  named  Youah,  not  cone- 
like and  solitary  like  Currahee,  but  massive  in  its 
proportions,  and  accompanied  by  similar  moun- 
tains of  less  imposing  appearance ;  while  at  the 
distance  of  four  or  five  miles  to  our  right 
stretched  another  range,  both  loftier  and  longer 
than  these,  known  as  the  Tray  Mountains.  This 
exquisite  little  valley,  radiant  with  light  and 
beauty,  and  presenting  at  every  point  some  new 
form  of  grace,  was  closed  at  its  farther  extrem- 
ity by  a  large  mound,  rising  sharply  from  the 
level,  and  gracefully  surmounted  by  a  feathery, 
plume-like  pine. 

"  You  call  the  river  flowing  through  this  valley 
Chattahoochie,"  said  cousin  Aleck  to  Kaneeka. 
"  Can  you  tell  me  what  this  name  means  ?  " 

"  Chattahoochie  not  Cherokee  name,"  replied 
Kaneeka,  "but  Muscogee;  same  you  call  Creek 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


195 


Injin,  and  we  call  Coosa.  I  hear  old  people  say 
Muscogee  call  Red-rmx\}  Eesta - chattay ;  and 
river  they  used  to  call  hatchie  or  hoochie.  So  I 
suppose  Chattahoochie  mean  '  Red  River.'  " 

We  rode  slowly  through  the  valley,  stopping 
here  and  there  to  enjoy  the  rich  beauty  which 
everywhere  greeted  our  eyes  ;  and,  about  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon,  came  abreast  of  the 
singular  mound  that  closes  the  southern  ex- 
tremity.  Here,  by  my  aunt's  request,  we  halted 
and  spread  our  tents  for  the  night,  wishing  to 
prolong  our  enjoyment  of  a  place  so  lovely. 

Scarcely,  however,  had  we  put  ourselves  at 
ease,  ere  a  tramp  from  the  west  announced  the 
approach  of  a  horseman.  He  proved  to  be  a 
plain,  farmer-looking  man,  with  intelligent  face, 
who  held  carefully  before  him  on  the  pommel 
of  his  saddle,  what  seemed  to  be  a  small  billet 
of  wood.  On  seeing  us,  he  checked  his  horse, 
gave  a  scrutinizing  look  at  my  father  and 
cousin,  then  rode  directly  toward  them,  and 
said,  in  a  free  and  easy  way : 

"  Good  day,  strangers  !  Ef  I  ain't  mistaken 
in  your  looks,  you  would  like  to  see  this  cur'ous 


196 


nacoochee;  or, 


piece  of  wood  I'm  can-in'  on  my  saddle;  and 
maybe  —  maybe  you  kin  help  me  to  some  un- 
derstand^' of  it." 

He  handed  it  to  them,  and  dismounted.  It 
was  a  piece  of  oak,  a  foot  and  a  half  long  and 
six  inches  in  diameter,  covered  with  bark,  and 
notched  and  hewed  at  one  end,  as  if  intended 
for  a  log  cabin  or  pen.  They  examined  it  care- 
fully, and  returned  it  with  the  remark  that  they 
saw  nothing  noticeable  in  it,  except  the  indica- 
tions of  great  age. 

"And  how  old  would  you  reckon  it  to  be?" 
asked  the  man. 

They  answered  that  they  had  no  means  of  de- 
termining. 

"  Maybe  you 'd  think  it  a  pretty  ageable  piece 
of  wood  ef  you 'd  seen  the  place  where  I  found 
it.    And  that 's  what  I  wanted  to  talk  about." 

He  then  went  on  to  say  that  it  was  part  of  a 
log  discovered,  with  many  others,  under  the 
roots  of  an  immense  tree  recently  upturned  by 
the  wind.  He  said  it  "was  cur'ous  anyhow" 
to  behold  logs  lying  in  the  ground  so  long  that 
a  big  tree  could  grow  over  them,  and  yet  that 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


19/ 


they  should  be  "  as  sound  as  a  dollar."  "  But," 
continued  he,  "  the  most  cur'ous  part  is  — look 
here  !  " 

He  called  our  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
cutting,  hewing,  and  notching  of  the  log  had 
been  done  with  a  sharp-edged  axe.  "  Now,  who 
did  this  cutting  ?  "  he  asked.  "  For  these  here 
Injins  never  did  it.  They  had  no  hatchets,  except 
stone,  till  they  got  'em  from  us  white  people. 
And  this  cutting  must  have  been  done  long  be- 
fore the  white  people  came  to  these  parts." 

My  father  and  cousin  exchanged  with  each 
other  looks  of  increasing  interest  as  the  man 
called  attention  to  these  facts;  and  learning  from 
him  that  the  spot  was  only  four  miles  distant, 
and  easily  accessible  to  persons  on  horseback, 
they  resolved  to  go  back  immediately  with  him, 
and  examine  the  locality  for  themselves. 

As  soon  as  this  determination  was  expressed, 
Saloquah  caught  Lorenzo's  eye,  put  his  finger 
to  his  ear,  and  pointed  to  the  woods,  from  which 
came  a  lowly  repeated  "  Turn  !  '.urn  !  turn  !  "  like 
the  thump  of  a  man's  naked  heel  upon  a  hollow 
log. 


198 


nacoochee;  or, 


"  Bird  that !  big  bird,"  said  he,  looking  at  us 
both.    "  While  you  gone,  I  go  kill  it." 

"  But  I  am  not  going  with  the  company,"  re- 
turned Lorenzo,  between  whom  and  Saloquah 
had  arisen  quite  an  intimacy  ;  "  I  will  stay  and 
go  with  you." 

While  we  were  preparing  for  our  excursion, 
they  took  their  guns  and  started  into  the  woods, 
from  which  they  returned  during  our  absence 
with  two  beautiful  pheasants,  one  of  which  had 
attracted  attention  by  perching  on  a  log,  and, 
according  to  its  habit,  drumming  with  its  wings. 

We  were  soon  in  the  saddle.  Our  trail,  for  it 
was  nothing  more,  led  us  along  a  narrow,  pic- 
turesque valley,  watered  by  a  sparkling  stream, 
that  emptied  into  the  Chattahoochee  within  a 
short  distance  of  the  mound.  We  cantered 
along,  Indian  fashion,  in  single  file,  Mr.  John- 
son, the  countryman,  leading  the  van,  and  Ka- 
ne ek  a  bringing  up  the  rear. 

On  reaching  the  spot,  we  saw  a  large  oak- 
tree,  four  feet  in  diameter,  lying  prostrate,  with 
its  great  roots  projecting  ten  feet  into  the  air, 
encumbered  with  a  heavy  mass  of  black  soil. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME.  1 99 

At  the  bottom  of  the  pit  left  by  the  upheaved 
earth  was  a  stratum  of  water -worn  stones, 
mostly  of  white  quartz,  in  which  lay  imbedded 
the  logs  of  a  pen,  or  -cabin,  about  fourteen  feet 
square.  These  logs,  varying  in  size  from  six  to 
eight  inches,  were  all  neatly  notched  into  each 
other,  and  were  as  sound  as  the  day  they  were 
put  together.  One  of  them,  caught  by  a  root 
of  the  oak,  had  been  dragged  from  its  conceal- 
ment under  the  pebbles,  revealing  the  position 
of  the  others.  It  was  from  this  log  that  Mr. 
Johnson  had  cut  off  the  end  which  he  had 
shown  us. 

My  father  and  cousin  examined  the  indica- 
tions with  curious  interest,  and  searched  deep 
enough  to  know  that  there  were  several  tiers  of 
logs  underlying  the  one  that  was  removed.  The 
facts  which  they  elicited  in  the  course  of  their 
examination  were  as  follows  : 

1.  The  logs  were  prepared  and  put  together 
by  persons  having  a  keen-edged  metallic  axe. 

2.  They  lay  imbedded  in  a  stratum  of  water- 
worn  pebbles  of  all  sizes,  from  that  of  a  pea  to 
that  of  a  child's  head. 


200 


nacoochee;  or, 


3.  This  stratum  of  pebbles  was  covered  by  a 
layer  of  rich  black  mould  several  feet  deep, 
which  had  been  washed  from  the  hillsides  or 
deposited  by  the  creek. 

4.  The  mould  had  covered  the  pebbles  long 
enough  to  allow  the  growth  of  trees  four  or  five 
feet  in  diameter. 

"  This  oak,"  said  cousin  Aleck,  pointing  to  the 
fallen  son  of  the  forest,  "  must  be  at  least  three 
hundred  years  old." 

"  And  the  soil  in  which  it  grew  must  be  older 
than  the  tree,"  said  my  father. 

"And  the  logs  in  the  gravel  must  be  older 
than  both  the  tree  and  the  soil  above  them," 
added  cousin  Aleck. 

"  How  old  would  you  suppose  them  to  be  ?  " 
asked  my  father. 

"  Not  a  day  less  than  five  hundred  years,  if 
our  conjectures  are  right,"  he  answered. 

"  Then  who  were  the  workmen,  with  the 
sharp-edged  axe,  that  put  these  logs  together  ?  " 
That  was  a  question  more  easily  asked  then 
answered  !  * 

*  About  twelve   or  fifteen  years    after    our   visit,  much 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


201 


They  paused,  pondered,  and  philosophized  ; 
but  in  vain.  My  father  at  last  turned  suddenly 
to  Kaneeka,  and  inquired  : 

"  What  have  your  old  people  to  say  about 
this  place  ?  " 

"  Never  say  nothing.  Never  hear  of  it  be- 
fore," Kaneeka  answered. 

"  But  have  they  no  old-time  stories  to  tell  of 

more  was  learned,  though  the  mystery  is  yet  unsolved,  (1869.) 
The  valley  of  Duke's  Creek  was  then  dug  for  gold,  which  was 
found  in  great  abundance  in  "  the  gravel "  below  the  soil.  TJiir- 
ty-four  log  pens,  such  as  described  above,  were  then  brought  to 
light.  They  were  joined  together  in  a  straight  line,  three  hun- 
dred feet  long,  all  made  of  small  logs  notched  like  the  one  we 
saw  —  the  lower  logs  resting  on  the  foundation-rock  which  sup- 
ported the  gravel-bed,  and  the  upper  logs  lying  in  the  soil 
which  furnished  support  to  the  trees.  Those  lying  in  the  gravel 
were  more  or  less  sound;  those  in  the  soil  were  perfectly  de- 
cayed. Some  of  these  pens  were  six  feet  or  more  deep ;  but, 
strange  to  say,  they  had  neither  doors  nor  windows,  and  the 
gravel  or  water-worn  pebbles  lay  inside  as  well  as  out,  inter- 
spersed at  intervals  with  fragments  of  Indian  pottery,  cane  bas- 
kets, etc.  A  good  specimen,  from  the  end  of  one  of  these  logs, 
bearing  the  mark  of  the  sharp-edged  axe,  was  sent  to  the  Col- 
lege Museum  at  Athens,  Ga.,  where,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  it  may 
be  long  preserved,  and  help,  some  day,  to  solve  the  mystery  of 
this  so-called  "  Buried  Indian  Village." 


202 


nacoochee;  or, 


people  who  came  here  many  lifetimes  ago, 
having  sharp-edged  tools  ?  "  he  asked  again. 

Kaneeka  answered,  "The  Alabamas  tell  us 
that  before  the  Muscogees  crossed  the  Father  of 
Waters,  and  conquered  the  country,  there  came 
an  army  of  bearded  men,  with  terrible  swords 
and  spears  that  flashed  in  the  sun  like  lightning, 
who  rode  upon  horses  and  carried  thunder. 
These  men  landed  from  big  canoes,  and  were 
hunting  for  gold." 

Cousin  Aleck  mused,  and  soon  began  to  think 
aloud.  "  The  Muscogees  left  Mexico  after  the 
fall  of  Montezuma.  About  that  same  time  came 
up  into  this  country  De  Soto,  in  search  of  El 
Dorado  and  the  Fountain  of  Youth,  and  visited 
the  Alabamas.  But  that  was  not  three  hundred 
years  ago.  Therefore,  De  Soto  did  not  build 
•  these  pens." 

"Then  who  did?"  asked  my  father. 

Cousin  Aleck^jtarted  as  if  roused  from  sleep 
by  a  rough  shake,  and  answered,  "  Perhaps  the 
Northmen,  who  discovered  America  five  hun- 
dred years  before  Columbus ;  perhaps  the 
Aztecs,  who  used  tools  of  copper  almost  as 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME.  203 

•a 

hard  as  steel,  and  who,  after  many  wanderings 
eastward  and  southward  from  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, settled  in  Mexico  about  six  hundred  years 
ago." 

"  Perhaps  ?  Yes,"  said  my  father,  "  and  I  fear 
a  perhaps  will  be  all  we  can  gain  on  the  subject; 
though  I  confess  I  should  like  to  know  more." 

With  these  interesting,  but  unsatisfactory  ob- 
servations, we  cantered  back,  and  reached  our 
camp  about  sunset. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


LEGEND  OF  NACOOCHEE. 

HAT  is  the  history  of  this  mound  ?  " 
asked  cousin  Aleck,  as  we  came  in  sight 
of  it  from  our  ride.    "  Who  made  it, 
and  for  what  ?  " 

"  Don't  know,"  Kaneeka  answered.  "  No- 
body know.  When  my  people  come  to  the 
country,  they  find  it  here." 

"  What  seems  to  have  been  its  use  ?  "  he  fur- 
ther inquired. 

"  A  bury-place,"  Kaneeka  replied.  "  Can  tell 
long  story  about  that,  if  you  like  to  hear." 

"Like  to  hear!"  cousin  Aleck  echoed.  "It 
is  the  very  thing  I  wish  at  every  place  we 
visit ;  but  delay  telling,  if  you  please,  until  we 
all  come  together." 

Our  scattered  company  were  soon  collected ; 

204 


NACOOCHEE. 


205 


my  aunt  and  her  maid  occupying  a  place  inside 
the  tent;  my  father,  cousin  Aleck,  Lorenzo, 
and  I  at  the  doorway  outside ;  Kaneeka  and  his 
brother  with  their  backs  against  a  tree ;  and 
Scipio  cushioning  himself  cross  -  legged  on  a 
tussock  of  wild  grass.  As  for  Quash,  he  had 
said  of  Kaneeka : 

"  Ee  can't  talk  buckra.  Ee  can't  talk  nigger. 
And  I  no  sabby  Injin.  So,  no  use  fuh  me  to 
listen."  He  was,  therefore,  enjoying  the  com- 
panionship of  his  beloved  horses. 

Kaneeka  then  gave  us  the  following  legend, 
which  I  take  the  liberty  of  translating 

Yonah  means  bear.  This  mountain  is  so 
named  in  honor  of  a  long  line  of  chiefs  of  that 
name  dwelling  at  its  base.  There  was  Yonah-Too- 
way,  or  bear-hunter;  Yonah-Tahe,  or  bear-kil- 
ler; Yonah-Ekwa,  or  big-bear;  Yonah-Oolah,  or 
bear-at-home ;  Yonah-Tullah,  or  two-bears ;  and 
many  others. 

Yonah-Ekwa,  so  called,  not  so  much  because 
he  was  big  in  person,  as  large  in  heart  —  you 
white  people  would  call  him  Yonah  the  Great  — ■ 
was  the  father  of  two  children.  Yonah-Oolah, 


206 


nacoochee;  or, 


the  son,  was  like  him  in  strength  and  personal 
beauty.  Is-ka-gua,  the  daughter,  resembled  him 
not  only  in  feature,  but  in  a  loving  and  devoted 
spirit,  for  he  was  not  more  daring  in  battle  than 
he  was  tende-r  and  gentle  in  the  family.  From 
her  childhood  she  had  been  accounted  the  most 
beautiful  creature  that  the  sun  ever  shone  upon. 
When  she  passed  by,  people  would  take  their 
eyes  away  from  everything  else  to  gaze  at  her; 
and  when  she  spoke  or  sang,  they  forgot  to  lis- 
ten even  to  the  birds.  Father  and  daughter 
were  everything  to  each  other.  As  she  grew 
up,  her  beauty  increased,  and  her  name,  Is-ka- 
gua,  which  means  Clear  Sky,  did  not  sufficiently 
picture  her  beauty.  It  was,  therefore,  changed, 
and  everybody  knew  her  afterward  as  Nacoo- 
chee, or  the  Evening  Star.  Before  she  had  seen 
eighteen  snows,  most  of  the  young  chiefs  and 
chiefs'  sons  in  the  nation  had  sought  her  in  mar- 
riage, and  been  refused.  She  seemed  to  care  for 
nobody  but  her  father.  People  said  they  were 
to  each  other  as  the  acorn  and  its  cup. 

One  day  she  strolled  to  this  mound,  gather- 
ing chestnuts,  and  sat  down  to  rest  on  a  mossy 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


207 


bank  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  where  she  fell  asleep. 
Her  dreams  were  a  strange  mixture  of  the 
pleasing  and  the  painful,  of  life  and  death,  of 
good  and  evil,  of  all  that  is  best  and  all  that  is 
worst.  She  awoke  and  looked  around.  There, 
in  a  thicket  near  by,  were  two  great  eyes  glar- 
ing upon  her.  They  were  those  of  a  panther, 
crouched,  crawling  nearer,  and  almost  ready  to 
leap.  She  knew  that  the  moment  she  attempted 
to  escape,  he  would  spring  upon  her  and  tear 
her  to  pieces  ;  yet  she  had  no  weapon  of  de- 
fence larger  than  the  bone  needle  with  which 
she  made  her  father's  moccasins.  Nothing  was 
left  her  but  to  look  the  terrible  monster  in  the 
eye,  and  wait  for  death.  But  that  look  seemed 
to  deter  him,  and  he  lay  there  moving  his  great 
tail  from  side  to  side  like  a  cat. 

But  other  eyes  were  looking  on,  of  which 
neither  she  nor  the  panther  had  any  suspicion. 
A  young  hunter,  armed  for  the  chase,  had  ap- 
proached the  tree  while  she  slept,  and  had  been 
as  much  overpowered  by  her  beauty  as  she  was 
by  the  panther's  approach. 

Just  as  the  beast  was  gathering  itself  for  a 


208 


nacoochee;  or, 


spring,  there  was  the  twang  of  a  bow-string, 
and  the  panther  started  to  its  feet,  growling,  and 
biting  furiously  at  something  in  its  side.  It 
was  the  feathery  end  of  an  arrow,  driven  by  a 
strong  hand  deep  into  its  vitals. 

The  hunter  now  rushed  forward,  knife  in 
hand,  and,  with  a  cry  of  rage  and  pain,  the  pan- 
ther sprang  to  meet  him.  The  contest  was 
short.  Running  his  arm  down  the  creature's 
open  throat,  the  hunter  drove  his  long  knife 
three  times  to  the  hilt  in  its  heart;  and  then 
both  fell  bleeding  together  to  the  ground.  Na- 
coochee sprang  forward  to  assist  her  deliverer, 
but  he  waved  her  back. 

"  Not  dead  yet  —  may  hurt  you,"  he  said. 

She  would  go,  however.  She  loosed  the 
spasmed  claws  from  their  deep  hold  in  his 
flesh  —  ran  with  his  empty  calabash  to  the 
neighboring  stream,  and  with  the  cool  water 
and  some  hastily  gathered  herbs,  she  stanched 
the  flowing  blood ;  then  hurried  home  for  help, 
and  returned  with  her  father  and  brother,  who 
took  the  young  man  on  a  litter  and  carried  him 
to  Yonah's  lodge.    There  he  remained  until,  by 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


the  skill  of  the  old  chief,  and  the  tender  nurs- 
ing of  Nacoochee,  his  dangerous  wounds  were 
healed 

He  reported  himself  as  Ko-a-to-hee,  or  Corn- 
tassel,  the  son  of  a  distant  chief  He  had 
heard  from  afar  the  rumor  of  Nacoochee's 
beauty,  and  was  coming  to  see  for  himself, 
when  he  met  her,  as  related,  at  the  mound.  He 
proved  to  be  as  noble  as  she  was  beautiful. 
The  wooing  was  not  long  continued.  Nacoo- 
chee's heart  had  been  won  the  same  day  her  life 
was  saved.  Before  Ko-a-to-hee  left  for  his  dis- 
tant home,  it  was  agreed  that  after  the  next 
green-corn  dance  he  was  to  come  and  take  her 
to  his  own  lodge. 

Long  before  that  day  came  round,  however, 
the  country  was  ravaged  by  a  new  and  dread- 
ful disease.  People  died  by  multitudes.  No 
classes  or  conditions  of  society  were  spared. 
The  disease  attacked  with  equal  violence  the 
rich  and  the  poor,  the  chieftain  and  the  child. 
It  seemed  to  be  given  out  by  the  bodies  of  the 
sick  and  even  of  the  dead  ;  for  all  who  nursed 
the  sick  were  sure  to  take  it,  and  even  those 

VOL.  II.  —  O 


210 


NAC00CHEE ;  OR,- 


who  buried  the  dead.  Of  the  few  who  recov- 
ered, some  were  blind  for  life,  some  were  crazed, 
the  most  beautiful  became  deformed,  and  all 
were  so  disfigured  that  they  could  scarcely  be 
recognized. 

The  medicine-men  tried  in  vain  to  stop  its 
ravages.  The  sweating  and  cold  bathing,  which 
cured  most  other  diseases,  only  hurried  these 
sick  to  a  quicker  death. 

After  it  had  raged  so  long  and  violently 
that  almost  every  wigwam  had  been  filled  with 
mourning,  the  conjurers  of  our  nation,  who 
were  also  our  prophets  or  religious  teachers, 
had  a  meeting,  and  announced  to  the  people 
that  the  only  way  by  which  the  anger  of  the 
Great  Ruler  could  be  appeased  was  by  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  most  beautiful  person  in  the  nation. 
This  brought  about  a  meeting  of  the  chiefs  with 
the  head-prophet,  not  long  before  the  green- 
corn  dance,  and  they  selected  a  large  number 
of  those  who  were  accounted  the  handsomest 
men  and  women  of  the  nation.  Among  the 
names  given  to  the  prophet  were  those  of  Yo- 
nah-Ekwa,  among  the  old  men  —  Yonah-Oolah, 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


211 


among  the  young  men,  and  Is-ka-gua,  or  Nacoo- 
chee,  amoncr  the  maidens. 

In  determining  who,  of  this  large  number, 
was  to  be  the  one,  the  mode  adopted  was  most 
impartial.  The  nation  was  divided  into  seven 
sections,  and  each  section  into  seven  chief- 
taincies. There  were  then  provided  seven 
straws,  exactly  alike,  except  that  one  straw  was 
painted  red  at  its  lower  end.  These  straws  were 
buried  up  to  the  head  in  sand,  and  were  drawn 
by  different  persons,  to  determine  first  the  sec- 
tion, then  the  chieftaincy.  Yonah-Ekwa  drew  in 
both  cases.  It  so  happened  that  in  his  chief- 
taincy no  names  had  been  given  to  the  head- 
prophet  but  those  of  the  Yonah  family. 

The  moment  the  fatal  straw  was  drawn,  the 
noble  old  man  rose  up  in  the  council  and  said  : 

"  My  Brothers:  —  Chiefs  and  Braves  of  the 
Children  of  Fire  !  * — We  count  it  an  honor  to 
die  in  battle  for  our  people.  Ms  it  not  an  honor, 
too,  to  die  in  sacrifice  ?    You  have  never  found 

*  "Children  of  Fire."  This  ajludes  to  an  obscure  tradition 
as  to  the  early  origin  of  the  nation.  Chera,  the  basis  of  the 
name  Cherokee,  means  fire. 


212 


NACOOCHEE ;  OR, 


me  a  coward ;  you  will  not  find  me  so  now. 
The  Great  Ruler  has  seen  fit  to  choose  his  vic- 
tim from  my  family.  I  am  ready.  Allow  me 
only  to  go  home  and  set  my  house  in  order.  Fix 
the  day,  appoint  the  place,  and  I  will  meet  you, 
and  die  for  the  people." 

With  these  words  the  old  prophet  arose. 
His  head  and  beard  were  white  as  the  snow,  and 
his  hands  and  voice  trembled. 

"  Chiefs  and  Braves !  "  said  he,  "  our  brother 
Yonah  has  spoken.  His  words  are  those  of  a 
warrior  and  a  prince.  The  Great  Creator  has 
made  him  such.  We  cannot  find  a  nobler  vic- 
tim. But  it  is  not  for  us,  nor  for  him,  to  decide 
who  that  victim  is  to  be.  In  our  brother's  fam- 
ily three  names  are  mentioned.  We  must  leave 
to  the  Great  Ruler  to  decide  which  of  the  three 
he  prefers." 

The  prophet  could  say  no  more.  His  voice 
failed.  He  took  his  seat  among  the  chiefs. 
They  all  sat  in  silence  with  their  faces  between 
their  knees.    Yonah-Ekwa  rose  again. 

"My  brothers,"  said  he,  with  a  loud  and 
pleading  voice,  "  the  Great  Spirit  calls  for  one 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME, 


213 


victim,  not  two.  My  children  can  live  without 
me,  but  I  cannot  live  without  them.  W  nen 
they  die,  I  die  too.  Spare  the  young  sycamore 
to  harden  into  a  tree.  Touch  not  my  Evening 
Star.  Let  her  light  shine  to  bless  the  world. 
Take  me  in  place  of  both.  I  ask  not  to  go 
home.  Spare  my  children,  and  I  am  ready  to 
die  to-day." 

Another  chief  then  arose  and  said  : 

"  We  cannot  talk  about  our  brother  while  he 
is  in  the  council.  He  knows  we  love  him,  and 
his  home,  and  his  Evening  Star.  Let  him  make 
us  free  by  going  out  of  the  reach  of  our  words." 

After  he  had  withdrawn,  the  subject  was 
briefly  discussed,  and  the  chiefs  resolved  that 
the  sacrifice  should  take  place  at  the  next  full 
moon,  on  the  summit  of  the  mound  in  the  val- 
ley, and  that  Yonah  should  be  accompanied 
home  by  the  Old  Prophet  and  two  of  the  prin- 
cipal chiefs,  to  determine  there,  by  lot,  which 
of  the  family  would  be  most  acceptable  to  the 
Great  Spirit. 

The  day  that  Yonah  left  home  to  attend  the 
council  just  described,  Ko-a-to-hee  arrived  at 


214 


nacoochee;  or, 


the  lodge  on  a  visit  to  his  expected  bride.  She 
was  more  beautiful,  in  his  eyes,  than  ever,  and 
he  was  more  noble  in  hers.  The  shadow  that 
was  falling  so  darkly  upon  their  hopes  was  not 
known  to  them,  nor  even  suspected.  They  saw 
nothing  in  the  future  but  their  soon-to-be-united 
pathway,  rosy  with  flowers,  and  musical  with 
the  singing  of  birds.  Ko-a-to-hee  spent  but 
one  day  with  her.  Before  the  close  of  that  day 
he  began  to  droop.  The  next  day  he  was  miss- 
ing, and  the  next.  Nacoochee  saw  him  no 
more  till  after  the  return  of  her  father  with  the 
old  prophet  and  the  chiefs. 

When  they  came  there  followed  close  behind 
them  a  man  deeply  scarred  with  the  disease. 
He  said  that  Ko-a-to-hee  had  come  to  his  cabin 
ten  days  before,  sick  with  the  prevailing  com- 
plaint; that  he  had  refused  to  allow  Nacoo- 
chee to  be  informed  of  his  abode  lest  she  should 
come  and  take  the  disease ;  that  in  the  ravings 
of  his  fever,  her  name  was  ever  on  his  lips,  and 
that,  as  he  lay  upon  his  pallet  that  morning,  he 
stretched  out  his  arms  and  said,  "  Come  to  me, 
Nacoochee  !  "  and  then  died. 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


215 


This  message  was  delivered  in  the  presence 
of  her  father,  of  the  old  prophet,  and  the  two 
chiefs.  On  hearing  it,  Nacoochee  sank  to  the 
earth,  and  when  she  finally  arose,  all  could  see 
that  the  long  knife  had  gone  into  her  heart. 

When  the  errand  of  the  prophet  and  chiefs 
was  made  known  to  her,  she  said :  "  You  need 
not  bury  any  more  straws.  The  Great  Spirit 
has  already  spoken.  I  am  the  victim,  and  I  am 
ready.    Yes,  Ko-a-to-hee,  I  come  ! " 

But  the  prophet  did  plant  the  straws  for  father, 
son,  and  daughter.  They  were  drawn ;  and 
Nacoochee's  eyes  brightened  as  she  saw  her 
straw  come  from  the  earth  tipped  with  red. 
Turning  to  the  old  prophet,  she  said : 

"  Come  to  the  mound  on  the  day  of  the  full 
moon.  I  shall  be  there,  ready  to  die,  if  not 
already  dead.    Bury  me  with  Ko-a-to-hee." 

She  then  beckoned  aside  the  scarred  mes- 
senger, went  with  him  to  his  cabin,  cast  her- 
self passionately  upon  the  body  of  her  deceased 
lover,  and  cried  aloud  : 

"  I  come,  Ko-a-to-hee  !  I  come.  You  gave  me 


2l6 


NACOOCHEE  J  OK, 


life  at  the  mound.  Now  give  me  death  ;  it  will 
be  sweet  when  coming  from  you." 

She  united  with  the  messenger  to  construct 
a  light  bier,  on  which  the  two  carried  the  corpse 
to  the  mound,  and  buried  it  on  the  summit,  and 
built  over  it  a  temporary  lodge,  which  she  sup- 
plied with  everything  necessary  for  her  abode 
till  the  day  of  the  sacrifice. 

She  tried  in  vain  to  keep  her  father  and  bro- 
ther away.  They  came  daily  and  sat  in  silence 
at  her  door.  She  never  asked  them  in,  nor 
asked  them  to  return.  She  remonstrated  with 
them  on  their  needless  risk  of  life. 

"  I  must  die,  but  you  need  not,"  she  said. 

"And  what  is  life  worth  to  us  without  Nacoo- 
chee  ?  "  they  replied. 

When  the  day  of  the  full  moon  arrived,  a  large 
concourse  of  people  assembled  at  the  foot  of  the 
mound.  The  old  prophet  ascended  to  the  lodge, 
accompanied  by  several  of  the  chiefs.  They 
found  her  richly  attired  in  a  bridal  dress,  kneel- 
ing beside  the  grave.  As  they  approached,  she 
stretched  her  hands  upward,  and  with  a  loud 
voice,  said : 


BOY-LIFE  FROM  HOME. 


217 


"Let  the  wrath  of  the  Great  Spirit  toward 
my  people  cease.  Let  it  fall  on  me  in  their 
stead!" 

Then,  without  another  word  or  act,  except  to 
murmur  out,  "I  come,"  she  sank  upon  the  grave. 

She  bore  no  marks  of  the  disease.  She  was 
beautiful  even  in  death.  The  people  went  sadly 
to  the  surrounding  forest,  from  which  they 
brought  each  a  little  armful  of  dry  wood.  They 
built  a  great  funeral-pile  on  the  summit  of  the 
mound,  laid  her  body  thereon,  and  reduced  it  to 
ashes.  All  that  remained  of  it  after  the  burning 
was  carefully  gathered  and  buried  in  the  grave 
of  Ko-a-to-hee.  There  they  continue  to  this  day. 
Her  father  did  not  live  long  after  she  departed. 
His  big  heart  was  scorched  by  the  fire  that  con- 
sumed his  daughter.  The  mountain  has  ever 
since  then  been  known  by  his  name.  And  in 
commemoration  of  her  many  virtues,  the  valley 
was  named  for  her.  Long  as  it  lasts  may  it  bear 
the  name  of  Nacoochee  ! 


THE  END. 


v 


Date  Due 


•fcii'40 

975.6083  G69SN 


35E293 


